"More than education, more than experience, more than training a persons resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That's true in the cancer ward, true at the Olympics, and true in the boardroom." -Dean M. Becker To be resilient is to bounce back after facing adversity. More specifically it is the ability to modulate and constructively use situations as learning experiences rather than setbacks. It means that you allow the stress to push you forward rather than letting it set you back. You are resilient. Strong. Determined. It's a choice you make in order to handle the stress that you face. You choose to be resilient.
Good leadership is, amongst many things, about being able to handle stress and still perform. Find out more about good leadership qualities here. Stress is normal. It's the body’s natural response when we have too much to do, or are faced with problems or difficult situations. Stress can harm the body. Stress can cause ulcers, heart disease, asthma, depression and diabetes. Prolonged stress causes emotional damage as well. Prolonged stress can cause negative thinking, severe depression, and other types of mental health issues. People become so down that their thought processes are affected. This affects their ability to make decision and creates more stress. About the Natural Stress Response... A tiny region at the base of your brain called the hypothalamus sets off an alarm system in your body when you become startled or stressed in any way. This alert creates a response.
Adrenalin and cortisol are released. These are hormones that are produced only during times of stress or anxiety. Adrenalin gives you a sudden burst of energy. It also increases both your heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol increases the amount of glucose in your bloodstream. It enhances your brain’s ability to use glucose. It also increases the availability of substances that repair tissues. Cortisol blocks out other responses that do not pertain to a flight or flight response. It suppresses the digestive system. It alters immune system responses. It affects the reproductive system and the growth process. The response is communicated to regions of your brain that control motivation and fear. The response your body has to stress usually is limited. It will pass as soon as the perceived threat is gone. If you no longer feel threatened, your body no longer has the need to respond. It will stop producing the stress hormones. If you continue to feel threatened your body will continue to respond by secreting the adrenalin and cortisol. When stress is prolonged or always present, your system will continually run in fight or flight mode. It continues to produce stress hormones. Most agree that stress is bad. It harms your mind and body. That's where resilience comes into play. Stress can actually be a good thing. It can be an excellent motivator. A resilient person doesn't learn how to avoid stress, or make it go away. They learn how to adapt to it and use it in their favor. There is a difference between pressure and stress. Pressure is the external demand that is placed on you from outside influences. Stress is the pressure you put on yourself. Everyone feels a certain amount of pressure due to things like mortgage payments, deadlines, etc. Not everyone gets completely stressed out over these things though. Dr. Derek Rogers from the University of York and Canterbury has 30 years of research gathered that pinpoints the fact that the one thing that is the key driver of a person’s stress is rumination. Rumination is the process of thinking over things repeatedly. To ruminate is to go over something again and again and again in your mind. Every time you think about the problems or cause of the stress the stress that you feel increases. When people ruminate, they often ask themselves the same questions again and again. "What if..." or "What will happen when...". They sit and ponder but yet they do nothing about it. They don't act. They only think. Resilient people take the stress that they are facing and turn it into something useful. Yes, they are stressed about making enough money to meet their needs. Do they ponder what will happen if they don't make enough? Maybe, just once. Then they put a plan into action to achieve the goal of making enough money to meet their needs. They don't allow the stress to bring them down. They become resilient and use it to motivate themselves to find a problem to the solution.
There have been studies performed on identical twins that indicate that some personal characteristics are actually inherited. The traits include the responses when taking on large tasks, or having to deal with unfamiliar people. The ability to stay good-natured when pressured also seems to be inherited. Environmental factors include home atmosphere, family, the amount of support you have, or the safety of your neighborhood. People who live in safe places, and who have a great caring network of family and friends tend to be more resilient. These things boost resilience. How resilient we are depends on a combination of inherited factors, and environmental influences. It also depends on our choices. When face with pressure choose to be resilient. Choose not to ruminate. Choose to turn the pressure into motivation rather than fear.