How to Withstand Setbacks

At the simplest level, resilience means you can withstand things. You can bounce back.

You can’t always control things. This world we live in has got a whole lot of stuff going on, and you’re not always going to be able to control what’s going to happen. The stock market will go up and down. Financial problems arise. Relationships hit a snag.

We develop resilience so that when the storm comes, it won’t ruin everything.

Resilience comes from a combination of training/preparedness, mindset, and experience.

Relationships will not always go smoothly. Work will be filled with challenges. Whether it's the loss of a loved one, unexpected financial strain, or a personal health crisis, we can always be sure that life will throw us curveballs. Developing resilience will give you the capacity to be able to respond in a way that meets the challenge.

Knowing this, and anticipating it, will protect you from feeling blindsided and potentially paralyzed by surprises. Further, a growth mindset enables us to see these challenges as opportunities to grow in our abilities. Mistakes don't have to be catastrophes. They can be a chance to learn how to grow past our current limits. Add a series of these experiences together, and navigate them well, and you are on the road to developing resilience.

Key concepts:

-People don’t rise to the level of a challenge. They fall to the level of their training.

-People with a growth mindset interpret failure with curiosity

-Resilience is about our ability to respond, rather than react.

-Right-size the events. Don’t look at a bump in the road and interpret it as the whole story.