How to be more Resilient

Sometimes your personal or work like can get tough and feel overwhelming.

There are days you just don't feel like you are being effective or maybe your self-esteem takes a hit.

There are times you just feel very stressed.

In this chat, I want to talk a model called the "Flow" model. This model may help you find out what you can do to become more resilient.

Think of a diagram and on the vertical axis that represents the various "challenges" you face every day. At the bottom of that axis, the challenges are "low" and on the top of that axis, the challenges are very "high". It is worth noting that the difficulty of those challenges are unique to you and your abilities.

Now on the horizontal axis, let's call that "abilities", and on the left side of that axis, we label that low and on the right side we label that high. Ability is comprised on many factors, but the two that are worth discussing are time and skills.

When you look at the whole diagram together you can create 4 quadrants.

In the bottom left quadrant, the challenge is low and your ability is also low. When most people experience this category, they experience apathy. If you want to move out of this quadrant to feel more energized, increase the challenge.

In the bottom right where the challenge is low but your skill is high, you may experience boredom. If you want to move out of this category you should also increase the challenge.

Now the top left is where many people sit. This is where the challenge is high, but their ability to deal with the challenge is low. You need to find out for yourself why your ability is low, but I'll offer two main areas to start. 1. You simply may not have enough time. Whether it is your personal life or your professional life, I would suggest determining what your priorities are and focus your time on your priorities. 2. The second area is skill. There can be a host of reasons why your skills are not up to par with the challenge. If the challenge is right and you are under-skilled, then determine which skill you need to improve and put together a robust development plan. If your skills are appropriate for your role but the challenge assigned is too high, speak with your manager on giving you an assignment that is a more appropriate fit for the role.

The top right quadrant is where you want to be. This is where the challenge is high (meaningful work that you are passionate about), and your ability to meet the challenge is also high.

If you can reach this flow quadrant, you will be more effective, have higher self-esteem, and psychologically, just be more resilient to any setbacks that come your way.