The American Psychological Association defines resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, threats, and significant sources of stress.
By completing this activity, and returning to it again in the future, you can significantly increase your resilience.
5 Key Drivers of Resilience
The LEADx Resilience Scale measures five research-backed drivers of resilience:
- Mission: the degree to which you are goal-oriented, optimistic, and self-motivated
- Relationships: your ability to get support from friends and family
- Grit: your levels of perseverance, tenacity, and growth mindset
- Health: your physical energy from sleep, exercise, and diet
- Emotions: your ability to regulate strong feelings and impulses
Focus on One Driver to Improve
While it can be tempting to try to improve all drivers at the same time, you will likely achieve better results if you just focus on one thing at a time. To get started, review your LEADx Resilience Scale results and choose one of your lower-scored items to focus on.
Activities to Boost Resilience Drivers
Use the list of possible activities below to help brainstorm actions you’ll take in the upcoming week.
Ways to improve your mission orientation:
- Write down several of your core values. Narrow it down to your top three and put them somewhere you look every day (e.g., phone background, a sticky note).
- Write down a couple of big-picture career goals. Keep those goals nearby so you can turn to them for motivation when you’re overwhelmed, stressed, or tired.
- Practice gratitude. Start each day by writing down three things you’re grateful for.
Ways to improve your relationships for improved resilience:
- Schedule time to call a family member or friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.
- Join a community of people who share one of your passions.
- Throw a dinner party.
- Meet with a coworker for 30 minutes for fun, not for a formal meeting.
- Talk out a problem (personal or professional) with a friend. Use their more objective perspective to gain some new insights.
Ways to improve your grit and growth mindset:
- Reflect on a time you overcame something difficult. Write it down.
- Praise effort, not traits. When someone succeeds, emphasize the hard work it took to get there, not their “intelligence,” “creativity,” or “genius.”
- Use the word “yet” more often. Instead of saying, “I’m not good at this,” say “I’m not good at this yet.” Or, “haven’t figured out this problem yet.”
- At the end of the week, write down three to five failures. Focus on what you learned from each and what you want to do differently next time.
Ways to improve your health for improved resilience:
- Get deliberate about your sleep. Stick to similar sleep hours daily. Don’t drink too much caffeine or alcohol. Avoid watching television or looking at screens for at least an hour before you go to sleep. Keep your phone on silent or in another room.
- Replace one unhealthy thing you eat often with something healthier. For example, substitute tuna and white meat for red meat. Or, substitute pudding with fruit salad.
- Don’t sit for too long. Set a timer for sixty minutes and get up and move around, even if only for a couple of minutes.
Ways to improve your emotional regulation:
- Don’t think of your emotions as “good” or “bad.” Instead, think about what that emotion can tell you about yourself and your situation.
- Practice positive self-talk. When you catch yourself being negative or cyclic, rephrase your self-talk. Keep it short, simple, positive, and realistic.
- Notice how you tend to act when stressed. What do you tend to do and how do people tend to respond to you?
- Name your emotions. When emotions take over, they cloud your thoughts and make it difficult to observe what is happening. Name the emotion you’re feeling to see your situation more objectively and to reduce its power over you.
Reflect!
After completing this activity, consider leaving a reflection in the LEADx app using the Coaching Plan Activity “Reflect” button.
