It's a new year and a time when you may feel hopeful. The holidays have passed and the new year represents a new start and clean slate. It's also a time when people make resolutions that are quickly discarded when the reality of beginning something completely new, different, or challenging begins to feel overwhelming, especially when new habits or existing patterns of thought must be changed. This is particularly relevant for the development of new career goals. The first of the year finds many people considering new careers, jobs, goals, or outcomes – and underlying those career resolutions are a desire, dream, or hope. But if an effort is made and then a change isn't fully realized it can lead to discouragement, frustration, and disappointment, which isn't the best way to start the new year.
What can change this view of the start of a new year? The answer is the development of a "you" year resolution and learning to be resilient. Resolutions are often related to an expectation about what someone should do or should be, as related to their career, along with comparisons to other people. A "you" year resolution is focused on you and your career development – without considering anyone else. The word resilience typically refers to a person's ability to recover from setbacks and quickly address challenges. As an educator and career coach I've learned that a person who becomes resilient has developed a success focused mindset and an ability to be resilient matters most on the job because this demonstrates flexibility and adaptability to changes and new situations.
WHY RESILIENCE MATTERS
A resilient mindset means that you have developed a practiced attitude with a well-balanced disposition and a quiet reserve that draws upon your inner strength, whether or not you fully recognize the power you have inside of you now. This allows you to avoid feeling extreme emotional highs and lows, while also turning worry into a plan of informed action.
With resiliency you have also developed a self-assurance that is demonstrated in the confidence you have about your skills and capacity for learning and growth. It is possible to develop and maintain a disposition like this on a consistent basis through conscious self-awareness of the emotional reactions you experience and making mindset maintenance an ongoing part of your self-development goals. All of this can lead to internalized resilience that will help to sustain you even during the worst of circumstances.
The following is a list of the reasons why resilience matters for your career.
• When You Feel Held Back: What I've found through my work as an educator, coach, and mentor, is that a person can have a natural ability to be resilient but when faced with challenges they may find it difficult to recover or make a comeback. The root cause is usually due to something that is holding them back and it is often related to some form of uncertainty. For example, if there are new duties or responsibilities being added to your job it may be natural to feel uncertain if you can take on additional tasks or complete what is required. Any time you believe you are not sure you know how to accomplish a given task you can consider it to be a learning opportunity and begin to address it through a self-assessment of what you know, followed by the development of a plan to address any areas where additional knowledge or skills are required. Becoming resilient means that you may stop long enough to reflect but you don't allow uncertainty to continue to hold you back in your job or career.
• When Your Job is No Longer Advancing: If you have been in the same job and you are performing the same tasks without making any progress in your job, it is very likely you may feel held back. It is helpful to consider whether or not it has occurred by choice. Here are some questions to consider: Are you seeking out additional tasks or opportunities, or are there none available? Have you talked to your supervisor or manager about doing more in your current role? It does not always have to involve taking on more job tasks. For example, could you lead a project or meeting? The point is to be proactive now and get out of this mindset.
• When You Experience Career Fear: Are you living in fear of not making progress, not being able to advance, or even the fear of making a change in your job or career? Fear can be a powerful de-motivator and create negative feelings that lessens your self-confidence. It can stop you from taking advantage of opportunities, especially if you stop looking because of fear. Fear can be debilitating, especially when it is left unchecked for any length of time, and it is usually based upon limiting self-beliefs. When a person is fearful or uncertain of what will happen next it may be accompanied by a feeling of lack of control and a question their ability to respond to the situation. This can lead to insecurity and a focus on the problem rather than the action needed to resolve it. Over time this negative attitude and self-talk becomes habitual, and the pattern requires effort to change.
• When You Believe You Are No Longer Learning: Are you no longer interested in pursuing your ongoing professional development? That is another reason why your career may be stalled, you've stopped doing something that can provide value for your career. The purpose of ongoing professional development is not to please anyone else, rather it is meant to be a means of bolstering your resume as you acquire and/or further develop your knowledge base and skill sets. It can also provide you with networking opportunities as you connect with other professionals.
• When You Experience Stress: Are you experiencing prolonged stress, anxiety, or feelings of apprehension? If so, any of these signs can be an indicator you are having a negative reaction to your circumstances or current situation, or you are not moving forward in your job or career and feeling a lack of progress. It is possible that many jobs are of an inherently stressful nature; however, if you are highly motivated and enjoying your job you would have a better ability to manage the potential for stress. The point is to recognize stress as an indicator and develop a plan to address it.
• When You No Longer Enjoy Your Job: Do you no longer enjoy going to work or performing any aspect of your job now? There are many reasons why you might feel this way and one of them is an indicator of your dislike and/or disengagement from your job. This does not mean you have to feel excited every workday but if the job was actively causing you to feel fulfilled – you would be more likely to enjoy it, or at least tolerate it until you can find a way to make changes. When work is no longer enjoyable it is time to review the career goals you've established and develop an action plan.
HOW YOU CAN LEARN TO BECOME RESILIENT
Becoming resilient is not a matter of talking yourself into a state of false well-being, rather it is a practiced habit of feeling secure and certain about yourself even when circumstances may cause feelings of uncertainty or insecurity. The following list of strategies can be utilized to develop resilience over time, or anytime you experience a feeling of being less than resilient to situations or circumstances.
#1. Develop a Mindset Tune-Up: Begin by evaluating your self-talk over a specific period of time to monitor your disposition. For example, you could keep a piece of paper or notebook at your desk for a day and periodically jot down what you think about yourself, your job, your career, and your skills or abilities throughout the day. You will likely begin to find that patterns emerge and you can make corrections as needed to improve your mindset. There are many people who recommend the use of positive affirmations as mindset maintenance but I have found that those are not always helpful when a person is in a negative frame of mind.
#2. Develop an Ability to Address the Unexpected: What is frustrating at times for some people is their inability to control situations, reactions from other people, or even the specifics of their job. But what you have control over first and foremost is your disposition, which includes your mindset, along with the level of performance you put into your job each and every day. If you focus on what you are able to control, and be less concerned about what is beyond your control, you will find it easier to focus on your priorities and self-development. This can ultimately make your job performance much stronger and more effective in the long run.
#3. Develop a Support System: It can be very helpful to develop a support system that consists of colleagues and friends who you can contact any time that you experience negative emotions, self-talk, or self-beliefs. While your support network may not have specific answers for you they can help to change the focus of your thinking so you are able to regroup and not get off track. I also recommend you keep inspirational sources handy and this can include a motivational magazine or book, or even inspiring websites that you have bookmarked for future use. The purpose is to help redirect your thoughts so that you maintain a positive and productive mindset.
#4. Develop Emotional Self-Management: This can be one of the most challenging aspects of maintaining resiliency, keeping your emotions in check. If you believe that you have been overlooked in your job or career then it is possible you will develop a fight or flight attitude, which is not helpful for your career as it can eventually show up in your tone as you communicate with others on the job. While emotions are natural you can become practiced in addressing them as soon as they are experienced. For example, if you feel frustrated about a situation try to find a way to write out your thoughts. This will allow you to work through those emotions so that it does not have a long-term negative impact on your job.
#5. Develop Goals for Your Career: The reason why many people don't have a fully realized sense of resiliency they can rely upon, especially when faced with challenging situations at work, is related to not having a clearly defined career plan or set of career goals. If a setback is experienced on the job it may seem as if there are few alternatives because none have already been established. What is much more effective is the development and maintenance of a career plan with specific checkpoints so that you are monitoring your progress, which helps you recognize that you do have control of your career and that will greatly improve your overall attitude.
#6. Develop Self-Awareness of Your Capabilities: Everyone possess strength within them but that may be hidden beneath feelings of doubt, questions about your ability to take on a new role or responsibilities, or other emotional reactions that minimize your self-confidence. Most people don't learn to access their inner strength until they have been challenged in some manner and then they finally discover their ability to handle these stressful situations. It may only occur when a breaking point has been reached and a decision has to be made to either find a way to turn the situation around or simply give up hope. Even if you believe you have failed, and all indicators seem to confirm it, you still hold within you the strength you need to start over and try again.
#7. Develop Self-Confidence: When you develop resilience you also have a sense of self-confidence and that allows you to perform your best each day at work, even when circumstances are less than perfect. You recognize the potential you have to be adaptable, which means you don't ever need to give up – even when you experience disappointment or setbacks. This allows you to approach each day with a sense of ease and control, rather than feeling worry or anxiety, especially when you have a well-defined career plan and know that you are learning from each experience on the job. This means that performing well is no longer a conditional effort because you are developing yourself and your skillsets for future opportunities.
Learning to become resilient is about establishing a pattern of thought that you are capable of handling any situation that comes along, even if you do not have all of the answers. It doesn't matter if you are just starting out in a career, or you have extensive experience, everyone has a capacity for learning and growth. It is a matter of feeling capable and competent through the skills you have acquired while continuing to work on your own self-development, and it is all dependent upon the beliefs you create to support and maintain your progress. It is possible to address any situation, circumstance, or time of change with a positive frame of mind if you conduct periodic maintenance and fine tune both your self-talk and self-beliefs. Make a "you" year resolution to become more resilient and as a result you will likely discover that you are much more successful in your career and better able to meet the demands of your job.
About the Author:
Dr. Bruce A. Johnson is an innovative educator with extensive experience in the field of higher education. Dr. J has expertise in adult education, distance learning, online teaching, faculty development, curriculum development, instructional design, career coaching, and resume writing. Dr. J serves as the Chief Academic Officer for Aston American University.
