"Resilience: It's the thing you develop by turning bad moments into better ones." - Futurist Jim Carroll
Here's a thought for your Monday.
We define our strength in the moments we are weakest; we must learn how to fortify our defenses in the most challenging moments to give us the strength to challenge the moment; we should build up our ability to deal with the bad days by focusing on the better days that are yet to come.
We should discover how to battle back in the most difficult of moments by turning them into moments of triumph.
Resilience is a skill, a hard shell of surviving and thriving that is to be constantly developed, a body armor of the mind, a strengthening of your determination to chase your strength instead of running from your weakness. And it's important as you go into your future - particularly as volatility can come to rule our lives.
Every day is full of surprises - the twists and turns that can change your path, challenge your enthusiasm, and present barriers to your goals. It's what you do with those momentary moments of shock that matters - not the moment itself. It's how you bounce back from the unexpected bounce that will define your path forward - not the bounce itself. It's what you do beyond the momentary moment of shock that is important - not the shock itself. It's how you tell yourself that the blip in your path is just a blip and something to move beyond.
It's what you do in the moment that becomes the moments after that matter. If I were to identify one super strength that I've tried to develop in the last many years, next to my relentless optimism, is my focus on my ability to bounce back - my resilience. To me, this is one of the most important leadership and personal skills - all others pale in importance.
Companies need to think the same way. There is so much disruption and change occurring that the ability to ride the volatility is often what defines success - not the strategy. A leader can choose to focus on the negative things that present a relentless challenge - or can redefine tomorrow by focusing on the positive ones. A company can choose to focus on what to do to battle against the challenges of today - or can define completely new challenges top be pursued. A corporate team can choose to try to fix their weaknesses - or can choose to double down on their strengths.
And yet, many legacy companies often do not have the structural strength to deal with the unique challenges that are presented. They spend the wrong amount of time focusing on the wrong things - trying to fix yesterday instead of redefining themselves for tomorrow. They need to focus on putting in place a culture that gives them strength, resilience, and the fortitude of optimistic body armor. It's not easy, but it's pretty darned critical!
Don't let your bad moments define you - let your strength shine through!
Jim Carroll's Aunt Mary always started every moment of reflection or toast with the phrase "Better Days." Her relentless optimism stays with Jim to this day.