Build Resilience Using Your Strengths
Build Resilience
In work and life we are guaranteed to face challenges. Resilience is our ability to bounce back from adversities, to cope or adapt well in stressful times. Learn how your strengths can be a powerful part of your resilience building toolkit.
In work and life we are guaranteed to face challenges. At times we can change the situation or fix the problem. Often it is the way we deal with the thoughts and feelings, or the pain or suffering caused by the challenge that helps us recover and demonstrates our resilience.
What Is Resilience?
Resilience is our ability to bounce back from adversities, to cope or adapt well in stressful times. Job loss, divorce, serious illness, and dealing with toxic leadership, are just a few challenges that can test our resilience. Some people are born more reactive to stressors. It is good to know that resilience is a skill that can be learned, developed and strengthened. (1)
There are various tools we can use to build our resilience. We can reach out to specific people for practical or emotional support. We can reflect on wisdom we have learned over the years to give us comfort and hope. Another powerful resource is our ability to apply our strengths, talents and skills to develop strategies and implement solutions for coping with and resolving challenges. This article and the included activity will help you consider some of your individual strengths and how they can form part of your resilience building toolkit.
Strengths, Talents and Skills
You have a particular combination of strengths that are unique to you. These include character strengths, and special talents and skills. For example, a character strength could be a quality like kindness or honesty. It may be that you have exceptional perseverance or a great sense of humour (2). Your greatest skills are often a result of applying these strengths. For example a love of learning paired with perseverance could be behind an ability to fix electronics. Being kind and socially intelligent would be two strengths demonstrated by an ability to defuse tense situations.
Through adversity or crisis your strengths have an opportunity to really shine. Grab your journal or a notebook and answer the questions in the Activity.
Activity
Take a few minutes to think about your greatest positive characteristics and your top skills and talents. Write down eight to ten. Try to include both character strengths and skills you excel in.
Next, briefly describe an issue or challenge you are currently facing at work or elsewhere.
Now, ask yourself, which three top strengths are especially useful to me in this situation, and how could I apply them to this challenge?
Through this challenge, what action, behaviour, or decision have I taken that I am most proud of?
What makes this particular action, behaviour, or decision noteworthy? Which of my top strengths do I see shining through in this choice?
These few questions are designed to help you build awareness of the strengths you draw on most naturally in tough times. Through answering them I hope you are encouraged to make even greater use of your top strengths and skills. The benefit is that when faced with a challenge, you can access your top strengths more readily than characteristics or abilities that are not so strong.
Often we come across one-size-fits-all advice. Although the advice might be wise and practical, if it is not tailored to our individual strengths or processes we will be less likely to apply it. The more you are aware of your strengths and find ways to apply them, the greater the positive impact on your work, life, and the people around you. In the case of a challenge or crisis, you will bounce back more confidently, knowing you can apply these strengths and skills time and again.
Bonus Activity
To dig a little deeper you may wish to respond to these three questions.
How does reflecting on my strengths impact my perspective on this challenge?
How does reflecting on my strengths impact my ability to bounce back from this challenge?
What strength would I like to express more greatly in dealing with this challenge (or future difficulties)?
Building awareness of our strengths and how we can apply them is one practical resource. If you would like to explore more ways to build resilience I periodically run resilience workshops featuring a science-backed tool. Participants have found this interactive workshop to be enjoyable and useful, with a positive focus. Reach out using the Connect page to find out more.
Resources:
1. Glenda Mcdonald, Debra Jackson, Lesley Wilkes & Margaret Vickers (2013) Personal resilience in nurses and midwives: Effects of a work-based educational intervention, Contemporary Nurse, 45:1, 134-143, DOI: 10.5172/conu.2013.45.1.134 : https://dx.doi.org/10.5172/conu.2013.45.1.134
2. To see a full list of character strengths: https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths
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