“Life will surely knock you down every once in a while! What matters most is that you get back up, do what is necessary to be resilient.”
Overcome Obstacles in Your Life by the virtue of Resilience
“Survival of the fittest,” quote dates back to ancient history. But have you ever tried to wonder who are those “fittest” who happen to overcome every hurdle in their life and attain success? Are they sprinters like Usain Bolt or swimmers like Phelps? Perhaps Genius like Nicola Tesla, or maybe strong like Brian Shaw. Nevertheless, there is no particular definition of the fittest, the winners, or successful people. There are traits, attributes, attitudes, perseverance, and most vital of all, resilience.
“It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most resilient and responsive to change.” – Darwin
Doctor Robert Brooks, a Ph.D. holder in Psychology says, “People with resilience have a greater sense of control over their lives.” Further adding to his statement, he says, “That makes them more willing to take risks, also, because of their optimistic outlook, they are more likely to develop and maintain positive relationships with others.”
Not only Dr. Brooks, but many experts believe that the key ingredient behind creating massive wealth is being resilient. Resilient people anticipate the potential challenges, for they expect them at different points in their lives. However, this doesn’t scare them rather is makes them adaptive to the situation and after weighing the pros and cons of it they adjust their goals and improvise the ways to achieve them.
Lyrics of the famous Hannah Montana song, “Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days,” feels right to everyone, at least once in a lifetime! Dr. Ani Kalayjian, EdD, DDL, a psychologist in New York City says, “Whenever you go through a negative experience, try and focus on the positive lessons you can learn from it.”
When a tough situation arises, don’t look out for someone to put the blame on. Let go of asking “Why me?” and feeling like a victim. Ask yourself what you could do differently next time to have a better result. Always remember, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
“Resilient people look at the problem and immediately ask, what’s the solution? How do I resolve the issue? What is it trying to teach me?”
Not Every Quitter is a Loser
You must be a bit perplexed right now by this title. “How can one make massive wealth by quitting? That doesn’t make any sense.” The statement is not to be misinterpreted by giving up on your dreams or your business.
Bailing out on time is one of the smartest moves you can play because I never saw an investor who made millions by investing a fortune during the wrong time. For a business owner being rational is equally important. Being adamant and orthodox won’t fill up your bank account.
Alright, let’s understand the concept with a couple of examples. What’s the best way to take a punch from a UFC fighter? How do you survive a hurricane with massive intensity? The answers are pretty much the same. “Don’t be there when it hits.” That’s not an act of cowardliness but an act of sensibility.
When the company starts laying people off due to a recession or any other reason whatsoever, there’s always one smart guy who is mature enough to comprehend the situation right away and leave the sinking ship preemptively to get a new job.
Some people are smart enough to know that their services, products, or the company as a whole is unable to offer the desired quality to the customers and it is a matter of time that they will go bankrupt. Without any further ado, they either improvise on their products and services or just straight-up change the line of business.
And you know what results from this type of quitting? It makes you happier, reduces stress, and increases health.
Studies over time have shown that people who quit their unfeasible goals saw physical and psychological benefits in about no time. Not only do they have less depressive symptoms and less negative affect but also they were recorded to have lower cortisol levels.
Levels of systemic inflammation, which is an indicator of immune functioning, were found to be comparatively lower in those “quitters” than those in pursuit of unattainable happiness. Also, the ”quitters” developed fewer physical health problems over time.
The thumb rule is really simple:
You can do anything when you stop trying to do everything.
If you’re still not convinced with the idea of bailing early then you might as well recheck your definition of being resilient. You gave up playing with your Barbie doll when you were ten years old and quit watching anime after you joined football. Nobody sticks with everything. You just can’t. Successful people know that. As a matter of fact, they never let their personal emotions dominate their professional decisions. Yes, take note – that’s a secret!
Successful people are Delusional
Marshall Goldsmith, an expert, did a study based on successful people. After acquiring all the data from his notes and surveys he realized they had a few things in common (quite obvious, right?)
He screamed,“These successful people are all delusional!”
This statement or concept is not to be misinterpreted as a bad thing. In fact, being delusional enables us to become more proactive and effective. By definition, these delusions don’t have to be necessarily accurate. If they were too accurate, your goals and standards would be too low respectively.
Goldsmith did observe a fascinating thing. He noticed that although illusions expose people to the risk of failure, they do something else that is far more interesting. They become the motivation for people and push them to keep trying even when they have failed. Truth be told, successful people fail a lot, but they try a lot, too. When the ideas don’t work, they move on until it does work. Survivors and great entrepreneurs have this in common.
Crazy successful people and people who survive tough situations are all overconfident, rather very overconfident. You may be scratching your head and thinking “Isn’t step one all about not being in denial? Are they trying to avoid reality?” If by any means those questions are running through your head, you need to make a distinction between denial about the situation and overconfidence in your abilities.
Try to understand this, the former one denial that it can be very harmful, but the latter one can be surprisingly good. See the world accurately — but believe you are an achiever.
Denying or distorting a negative or risk-prone situation might make you stress-free for the time being, short-term albeit. If you contemplate the future in the long term you’ll realize it’s potentially harmful. Unless you admit that you’ve got a problem you are so not ready to confront them.
In contrast, having a particularly substantial belief in one’s personal calibers, even if that belief is illusory to some positive extent, almost certainly helps you to solve problems. A useful, if somewhat simplistic, mathematical formula might be: a realistic view of the situation in addition to a strong view of one’s ability to control one’s destiny through one’s efforts has resulted in grounded hope.
It’s like having the feel of a superhero – the trouble is quite evident, but you don’t allow it to reflect on your face instead you’re calm and you feel like you’re awesome enough to handle this.
Being Resilient Demands Accountability and NO Procrastination!
If you are an entrepreneur you should realize the significance of your own presence and by presence I mean you being there for your company during difficult times. One of the prime reasons why people fail to get a hold of their business is that they create a problem for every solution. Yes, you read it right!
Essentially, people have way too many excuses and they forget that they are liable for everything they create and that includes their business too. Being responsible is the first step towards success. It is seldom that people try to find a way out of difficulty and they rather cry about little hurdles they face. The excuses they give are poor and really not thought through.
Many-a-times amateur entrepreneurs will try to avoid the situation and they will reason with, “I don’t have time for the board meetings,” “I am unavailable,” “I don’t have time for this,” “I don’t have time for that”. Well, you have to make time. That’s how you will be able to earn your livelihood.
“It is easy for you and difficult for me, for you don’t understand what situation I am in.” If you find yourself speaking out these statements to your peers, I am sorry to tell you, you’re being a kid, not an entrepreneur. Other people may not understand your situation but they know that the basic fundamentals of all the businesses are not that different. If you think that you are unable to sell your products to their fullest potential or if you think that people are not paying enough for your products and services it is because of two basic reasons :
- Add value and quality to your product and service – When a consumer seeks a solution to quench his needs, he looks for nothing else but quality. They are ready to pay for it provided you give them what they want.
- Market like you mean it – Another reason why you are not finding buyers for your products is that they are unaware that you even exist with such services. Your marketing strategies are not optimized and you’re not reaching the target audience.
If you are chasing your goals, never procrastinate, for every time you do it you push the goal one step away.
Another major problem is you are procrastinating and have a really “casual about everything” attitude. Wake up, open your eyes, and work for goals. Because best dreams aren’t ones you dream while sleeping but the ones that do not let you sleep. If you’re looking for anywhere to start, look inside you. You’re capable of it. Your procrastination will not lead you anywhere, but your perseverance will. In the due process, you’ll learn so many things, beautiful things, and important things.
You will realize that perfection does not exist but excellence does, and it is attainable. If you have a small business, you have a world of endless opportunities and unimaginable ways to improve from yesterday. If you can improve your business by merely 10% in a week, you will be 520% better than you were a year ago.
The same applies to corporate giants. Although your marginal rate might be relatively lower, even if you accomplish 1% gains every week, you’ll grow by 52% every year.