Personal Resilience

Stuart shares his views following the LIFE Personal Resilience module.

If there’s one type of training we all need, it’s Personal Resilience (Mental Toughness) Training. It will help you to prepare for, and deal positively with life’s challenging events; which will happen at some point in your life, often many times, whether you like it or not! So in my mind, it’s better to be prepared . . .

And that’s exactly what Lane4 did. The chap was very professional and good at getting his message across. He taught about ‘Proactive Resilience’ – ‘digging the well of resilience before you are thirsty’, so you can draw from it when you need it! As well as ‘Reactive Resilience’ – responding to pressure and recovering quickly. Afterall, ‘Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you deal with it!’ Charles Swindoll.

We also explored the psychology behind it, in particular the different parts of the brain you use in different situations. How you can be ‘Bruce Banner’ one minute; in control using the Cortex part, and then ‘The Incredible Hulk’ the next; being out of control and using the Amygdala part!

Not to mention identifying the significant successes in our lives, and the attributes that lead to these, as well as the personal values which underpin them. Ultimately having perseverance and self belief are most common attributes, self belief being the most important, coming from life’s experiences. Adversity and pressure are unavoidable, so forget the ‘trying to avoid’, and learn how to deal with them effectively! Ie ‘Back to Bruce’ (being in control).

The outcome of the day is that you will create a ‘Resilience Recipe’, which identifies how to remain Calm & In-Control, and deal with challenging situations effectively. After all, who enjoys sweaty palms and being uptight?? I don’t anyway . . . Very useful.

Stuart Jones, Civil Engineer, @one Alliance