If the time since the start of the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t take anything for granted. In leading our businesses, it was easy to play the Victim, as we felt powerless in many ways. However, the opportunity to demonstrate Resilience and shift from the Victim role to becoming a Hero, was an opportunity that many people took advantage of that allowed them to Reinvent themselves and their businesses.
This week’s Made Simple Summit was all about the challenges of Resilience & Reinvention, so here are the Top 5 Actionable Keys to being Resilient and setting up needed Reinvention:
1. Have Faith and Simply Do What You Can Where You Are Right Now.
With so many things out of our control, it’s easy to feel helpless and shut down. Unfortunately, that takes away the power that we have and seals our fate. If instead, we can take positive action, almost any action, it gets us moving and we’ll see small changes start to happen. Taking action doesn’t just affect our body, but it also affects our minds and emotions. We can slowly build the momentum of both positive energy and results. We don’t have to be super-human, we just need to do what we can in the place that we are and we’ll feel the difference. Soon enough, others will notice, too, and we’ll be on our way.
2. Embrace Healthy Tension as a Leader
Too often as Leaders, we avoid or ignore the tension in our organizations. Unfortunately, that tension will both linger and grow until it’s a huge limit to our potential. Tension isn’t a bad thing, as long as we acknowledge it and embrace both sides of the issue. Rather than sticking to an Either/Or mindset, we can harness the power of Both/And as we seek to find solutions that incorporate the desires of both sides of the equation. Let tension be a sign of opportunity … the opportunity to transcend the typical and use our creativity to acknowledge the potential benefits from both sides of the issue to solve problems for good.
3. Remember to Breathe
Life moves fast and too often we forget to breathe. Slowing down … even stopping … to breathe can reset our minds and hearts in a unique way. We are not just intellectual creatures and our minds, bodies, and emotions are all connected. Stopping to breathe helps calm our emotions, relax our minds and put our bodies in a positive orientation. Just a few deep breaths can provide a remarkable shift that can reset an entire day!
4. Recognize Your Victim Beliefs and Choose Guide Beliefs Instead
Victims are self-focused and feel powerless. They are worried about failure and concerned that they aren’t good enough.
Guides choose to focus on others and spend their time operating within their sphere of control. They look at challenges as an opportunity to grow and recognize that setbacks can be setups for new opportunities.
Being aware of when we could be likely to fall into a Victim mindset can help us keep ourselves from falling into that trap and if we shift our focus from ourselves to others, we can get back into a positive mode.
5. Ask “What If?”
If your life story was made into a movie, would you find it exciting?!?
Too many of us have accepted that we’ve found a place in life that’s the best we can do. We’ve resigned ourselves to the story that fate has brought to us.
And guess what fate has planned for us … not very much. But we don’t have to accept the path that fate has been taking us down. Instead, we can invite ourselves into a story that goes beyond our cultural scripts. If you can dare to ask yourself the question, “What If?” and let your curiosity run. Let your heart and curiosity explore.
Considering what cause or idea you can champion can make your story great. Become a Hero on a Mission and fill your life with a new meaning as you strive to make your “What If?” come true!
No question that everyone attending the Made Simple Summit was challenged and changed. While sitting on the sidelines and playing the Victim is the easy path, we were reminded that it doesn’t serve us or anyone else. We were inspired to both make our story a great story and to help others do the same. It was exciting and challenging to be with this community of dedicated professionals and we’ll look forward to connecting with them again soon!
