Resilience – is it something you’re aware of and an area you’d like to improve?
As a business owner who works largely by myself (clients and collaborations aside) I know the importance of building resilience and I’m aware of the limiting factors it can have on someone running their own business. Recently in my Facebook group I shared the work I’ve done to improve my own resilience over the past 6 years since launching my own businesses.
We all have a degree of resilience but this can vary hugely from person to person. It’s not something you have or don’t have and it’s certainly something that can be learned, developed and improved upon. The ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back to the task at hand is paramount to success for anyone in business.
Here are my top 5 tips to develop your resilience:
1: Raise your self-awareness. When we’re under pressure, under stress or we’re faced with change, we revert back to our ‘type’. Our tried and tested ways of doing things. If you know a knock back in business or a rejection from a potential client sends you into a spiral of negativity then you can prepare for this pattern and halt these negative attributes in the moment. Just because you’ve responded in a certain way in the past doesn’t mean that all future responses need to go the same way. By recognising you can transform an obstacle or a set back into an opportunity, it will greatly increase your perspective, and your emotion around a situation.
Many of us are deeply passionate about our business and to create success, but if an event leads to negativity what new habits and strategies can help you deal with these situations? Those who take the time to see the good in things and spread their positive outlook find it easier to work through rough patches. They see each experience, positive or negative, as a way to learn.
2: Focus on your strengths & build your confidence.
It’s important to be aware of known weaknesses, but at any given time, focus more on where your natural strengths lie. Put yourself in a position where you utilise these as much as you can. And those areas you’re perhaps not so good at? What can you delegate and outsource and how can you ask for help if those weaknesses are genuinely holding you back? It’s ok to give a task to someone else and it’s certainly ok to ask for help! It’s one of the biggest benefits I’ve seen in my business to date.
Developing a sense of self worth, learning new skills, meeting new people and building your confidence can be incredibly empowering. Combining this with a sense of purpose and motivation adds more to building your resilience.
3: Keep doing something about it.
Building resilience takes practice. And what works in one situation may not work in another. A person who has strong resilience takes action when they come across a problem and are always looking for ways to improve their performance. Think of resilience as a muscle – you’ve got to train it and also to rest it. But you’ve also got to keep putting in the hard work to maintain it.
Resilience can fluctuate on an almost daily basis – being prepared for this reality ensures you’re ready with whatever strategy helps you maintain your resilience.
Make sure you take time to reflect and capture what’s working well for you. Journaling and a space for reflection are helpful which is why I include a space at the bottom of my daily planner – to capture what I’m proud of each day.
4: Make plans for you and your business and take care of yourself.
Often the foundations in business can affect how resilient we are. For example, a person with a poorly planned out business which is lacking in strategy and no consideration for something like their ideal client will face disappointment when their “idea” fails to meet their expectations of success. You can avoid this disappointment with more due diligence and planning in your business. Not everyone works in a structured way, but for many of my clients, without a vision and without a strategy for what success means to them their resilience can become a limiting factor when they’re faced with rejection and challenges. Those who plans and a vision will face any obstacles along the way and develop strategies that help them to maintain a positive outlook.
And for you? How’s the balance in your overall life? Are you taking care of you? Your diet, your exercise habits, taking care of yourself? By building and maintaining your personal resilience you can feel ready for whatever life throws at you.
5: Build your tribe and your support network around you.
Who do you know that is a resilient role model? Who can you talk with and learn from? How else can you access those who demonstrate strong resilience? How do they develop strategies and how do they face obstacles along the way? Ask them?
And when the chips are down and you need to dust yourself off quickly, and yes it does happen, who can you turn to help? That’s one of the reasons I created Thrive Collective so that we all have a group of supportive and knowledgeable women to access and look to support from.
Remember, you’re not alone when building your resilience. A problem shared is often a problem halved. Reaching out, in any group, provides a fresh perspective when you’re trying to understand how to solve a problem and when you need encouragement and inspiration.
I’d love to hear what you think of my tips and what helps you build your resilience. Email me, or come and join me over in the Thrive Collective exclusive members group.
I’m Sam Dixon, founder of Thrive In Business – an experienced Marketing Coach & Consultant to ambitious businesswomen who want to launch, grow and scale their business with flexible marketing support. For a free 30 minute discovery call get in touch by email hello@thrivewithsam.com