How to Build Resilience in Business

One of the greatest qualities for anyone to cultivate is the quality of being resilient. I think this is especially true for someone in business for themselves.

The dictionary says resilience is: capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture, tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.

Another way of saying this is really a way to speak of success.

If you have decided to be your own boss, you must actually embrace the occasional failure as part of the dance of business. If not, you will get nowhere, and hang out in your comfort zone, never creating what is only possible when you stair your fears in the face----never achieving a measure of success that matches your true brilliance.

What is this fear all about? Fear of failure, fear of success (which is really fear of failure with clothes on), or fear of rejection? Really it boils down to that. Most of us hate to fail and hate to be rejected.

Will I fail to achieve what I set out to do, or will someone think I’m stupid or ugly or awkward or some other form of judgment—and reject me? If you play it safe so these things don’t happen, you will not go far, and you will not develop that indomitable spirit of resilience where you learn from mistakes or failures and begin to care more about what you think about yourself than what others do.

Napoleon Hill said that “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seeds of an equal or greater benefit.”

What makes the difference between those who learn and change for the better and those who keep making the same mistake over and over, or even give up all together?

Resilience-----the ability to adjust easily to change.

Look at the body. Over time, most people’s bodies become less resilient, stiff, even arthritic. Something happens, pain and inflammation ensue, and the range of motions decreases. Stiffness sets in.

Of course there are many factors involved in that, but there are many people, my own 81 year-old mother included, who remain physically resilient and flexible far longer than most. She does yoga and/or zumba 4 times a week! When her back hurt the other day, she went to yoga and the pain left. She exercises the muscles and they respond by actually helping to lessen the pain.

To increase your range of motion, try the following exercise:

1. What is something you really really want to achieve and have not done yet?

2. What will happen if you fail in this endeavor? Create a doomsday scenario if you can.

3. How would adjust to this and get your life back on track?

4. How would you feel if you never try?

5. Make a decision based on this information.

You see, we have so many unquestioned answers, which become be(lie)fs that hold us back from our dreams and the purpose we are meant to fulfill. If you take a good look, you will usually see that #4—never trying---is the question you really need to answer, and carries with it the heaviest consequences.

To be human is to have a dream.