Resilience is a big buzz word right now. It’s been months since the start of the pandemic and we’re all feeling a bit frayed. On top of the usual challenges of life, there is a lot of extra stress, and our normal distractions, releases, and comforts are very restricted. So everyone is talking about the need to build resilience. Meanwhile, Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg have been working for a few years on what they call Option B.
Sheryl Sandberg’s husband died suddenly while on vacation. She was left without her best friend and the father to her children. She was also busy running one of the largest corporations on the planet. She turned to her friend, Adam Grant, for help. Together they came up with the theory that when you can’t have option A, you have to make option B work. What gets you through the tough times is to draw on your resilience. The catch—you had to go through previous tough times to first build up your resilience.
Which leaves the question: how do you get the resilience you need to go through the first challenges?
The answer is simple—use your strengths. By choosing the path of least resistance to achieve everything from the easiest task to the most difficult stretch assignment, you grow your talents. Your strengths become stronger and are your guaranteed path to success when the hard troughs occur. Learn your strengths and then leverage them. Being the best YOU is be the easiest way to build resilience.