10 Tips on how you can work to develop your courage and resilience, whether you are in a reactive or proactive situation

Now you may not realise that courage and resilience CAN actually be developed so you can be even more courageous and resilient than you already are…….

As part of our leadership development of business owners we use the Farsight Leadership assessment tool created in conjunction with Manchester Business School to identify leadership strengths and development areas.

Courage and resilience are actually leadership “Drivers”.  Now all you need to understand here is that by developing your courage and resilience it will increase your ability to do all of the 9 vital leadership competencies you need to display to be successful as the leader of your own business.  Competencies like ‘Decision Making’, ‘Vision’, ‘influence’, ‘engagement’ and ‘collaboration’ (to name some of them) are all influenced by your level of courage and resilience, which ultimately all significantly impact on the results you get.  So it really is worthwhile to focus some effort in doing so.

So, what are the 10 tips?

1. Make sure you have clarity of your purpose and know what you want in your life, business and in specific tasks/scenarios.  When you are “on purpose” you will be in the best place to demonstrate courage and resilience as and when needed, never mind have greater motivation, commitment, discipline, focus, energy and perseverance.
2. Hold positive expectations – you will get what you expect, not what you want or deserve!
3. Remember the examples you wrote in the last blog of courage and resilience (click here if you haven’t already read this) of when you have displayed courage and resilience in the past and look for the positive lessons for you, then replicate the behaviour and mindset that supported you then.
4. Hold an image in your mind of your “best self”, at your most courageous and resilient,and “step into” your “best self”at moments where you’re reacting to difficulties/challenges or visioning and planning for the future.
5. Review and analyse difficulties and challenges to look for the positive learning as there is no such thing as failure, only the opportunity to learn!
6. Take note of the circumstances that induce a fearful reaction in you, what makes you feel like giving up or what makes you maintain the status quo.  Consider the “limiting beliefs” that you have in that moment that are holding you back.  Work to replace those with more empowering beliefs like ones that start with “I CAN”!
7. Make sure that you effectively plan and prepare for what you want to achieve.  Don’t leave things for chance if at all possible.  Make sure you have contingency plans in case things don’t go as expected.
8. Focus on that which you can control.
9. Some of the most well known successful business people have had to display extraordinary courage and resilience to get where they are – ensure you have role models that you know have stuck at it no matter what.
10. Make sure you have strong and positive support around you.  Preferably that will listen to you without an agenda or judge you, and will challenge your thinking when you find yourself in a negative place.

So even if you apply just a few of these consistently over time, remember, it will positively impact on everything you do.

AND, if all else fails “fake it until you make it”!

Thanks for reading.