The Next Six Months

Over the last six months you have adjusted and pivoted in response to COVID. 

What about the next 6 months?

How do you grow, capture opportunity, and thrive? 

It starts by tapping into your resilience. We see the staggering numbers of COVID cases today and the winter months approaching. What will that mean – call it a second wave; or a continuation of the first; or nothing at all – it’s unclear.  

A few weeks ago, I talked about self-awareness, identifying and confronting negative thoughts, and the power of a positive outlook as the building blocks to greater resilience. 

Today, I want to talk about facing fears, digging into your purpose and setting goals. To me these are about taking action. 

The Fear Factor

Let’s remind ourselves that resilience is built through challenges and the setbacks. Not the ability to avoid. You don't get tougher sitting on the sidelines. Hello, Brené Brown told you to get in the ring. Or Garth Brooks, Standing Outside the Fire.

For many, fear of failure is the fear that stops us in our tracks. But, if you understand what I just said, you learn to pick yourself and dust yourself off when you are knocked down. The more times that happens, the less afraid you are to get knocked down. Been there, done that. 

You build confidence and a belief in your ability to respond successfully to challenges. Look back on those times when you faced challenges and setbacks and remind yourself all the ways you succeeded in the past. How did you meet the challenge, how do you come out the other side.

The less afraid of falling, hopefully, the more willing you are to take risks. Maybe you make some mistakes but you see those as opportunities to learn, learn about yourself and grow in your grit, your grace (less of splat), and your agility. 

I read about this great exercise that helps you break down the idea of fear. The outcome was this: the number of times something woke you up at night in a cold sweat and actually happened is less than the number of times some sh$t happened that you never saw coming. 

To me that is powerful. Not only for the energy wasted and action not taken, but to remember you can’t control everything. No amount of fear will protect you. It doesn’t serve you. 

Power of Purpose

What does serve you is having a strong sense of purpose and a clear vision of what that looks like in action.

Purpose shapes your mindset. People with a strong sense of purpose find meaning in those challenges and setbacks. They find the lesson. They find the benefits. 

They see the bigger picture. They see it as a blip not a permanent state. They have a broader perspective unlike fear which has been shown to narrow your vision.  

Purpose ties to one C in the Seven C’s of Resilience, a model for building resilience, described by Kenneth Ginsburg, M.D. 

“Contribution” - an understanding that the world is a better place because you are in it and, therefore, appreciating the value of your contributions. That sense of purpose spurs action and commitment to something greater. 

With a clear purpose in mind, we are taught we need an action plan to get there. There is a reason we set goals. 

Goals Get Us Going

The American Psychology Association in a piece about building resilience noted the importance of goals. “Develop some realistic goals and do something regularly—even if it seems like a small accomplishment—that enables you to move toward the things you want to accomplish. Instead of focusing on tasks that seem unachievable, ask yourself, “[w]hat’s one thing I know I can accomplish today that helps me move in the direction I want to go?””

Goals, like purpose, are forward-looking. We are not bouncing back – we are bouncing forward. We are not coming out of this in the same place we are now. We are not returning to who and what we were – we are better for it.

I think goals build confidence, much like ticking off the to-do list – even the small things – builds momentum. 

An interesting perspective, that resonated with me, came from a 2017 study from George Mason University. Their researches found that hope more than anything (grit, gratitude, meaning in life…) helped offset negative life events. They defined “hope” as the ability to generate routes to achieve goals and the motivation to use those routes. I like that it is action oriented. 

Circles back. The ability to generate different routes comes from being unafraid and having a broader perspective and field of vision; purpose provides that motivation; and a positive outlook supports that hope.