Resiliency
By: Justin Fatica
Are you constantly fighting burnout as you are busy and rushing from one thing to another? Does the idea of being resilient seem far-fetched or even impossible? Achieving resilience may not be what you are thinking. I recently read an article from Harvard University about three things that give people resiliency. Resiliency isn’t a mindset. The study says that optimism and positivism don't necessarily make you resilient.
According to the Harvard study, there are three ways to achieve resiliency:
1. Be realistic
The first part of the word realistic is ‘real’. Being ‘real’ and authentic is one of the core virtues that Hard as Nails is built on. When you are real, you are free to be yourself and therefore you are realistic with yourself. You know your strengths and weaknesses, and let others see them as well. That allows everyone to have realistic expectations of one another. When you know what’s realistic for yourself and others, it gives resiliency to relationships (both personal and professional). When you have realistic expectations for someone, that helps with not feeling supported, feeling let down or feeling disappointed.
This idea of being realistic doesn’t just come from one Harvard study. Within our organization, we use SMART Goals in order to be successful in specific projects. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. SMART. Being realistic is a key to success.
2. Have meaning and purpose in what you do
So many people are searching for meaning and purpose. In order to not burn out, we should always search for the meaning and purpose in what we do, no matter what that is. Once I met a homeless man who was begging on the side of the road. On that particular day, I had just gotten rejected by the girl who I loved. She told me not to talk to her for 3 months, and that night there was going to be a dance. I didn’t want to see her there with another guy, so I decided to go out to dinner by myself. I came across the homeless man and then took him to dinner. That night, as we sat together, that homeless man changed my life. He didn’t know the power he had. I told him that no matter what he thought, he had meaning and purpose in being homeless. He helps people every day to be more grateful when they see him on the side of the road.
No matter what you do, seek the purpose and meaning in it. Even if you have the toughest job in the world and you feel like you’re not making any difference, I guarantee you that you can find meaning and purpose in it. Maybe it’s taking the time to go to lunch with a co-worker who is struggling, maybe it’s being kind to the person that you struggle with. Whatever it is, you have the power to change the world where you are at right now!
3. Have the ability to improvise
When a person, team or organization can improvise, it is a sure way to thrive in resilience. Take, for instance, the Covid-19 pandemic. So many businesses have had to improvise to survive. So many places have had to close down. Others that have been able and fortunate enough to improvise are still open.
For myself, I have had to make adjustments and improvise a lot over the past months. Preaching has not been my number one focus anymore due to the cancellation of public events. I have had to pull back and improvise big time and trust God even more. I have had to create a platform of doing through improvising. I’ve had to reset, focus on building relationships and get creative to keep the ministry up and running. Praise God that He has allowed that to happen.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away - we have to praise him for that! Let’s be resilient like Job was.
“Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” -Job 1:21
“Tough times don't last, but tough people do.”
