Is a personality trait that means being more flexible and able to bounce back from difficult situations?
10 MIN READ Show Overcoming and Growing From Setbacks
© iStockphoto Find the strength to keep going. I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. – American inventor, Thomas Edison According to legend, Thomas Edison made thousands of prototypes of the incandescent light bulb before he finally got it right. And, since the prolific inventor was awarded more than 1,000 patents, it's easy to imagine him failing on a daily basis in his lab at Menlo Park. In spite of struggling with "failure" throughout his entire working life, Edison never let it get the best of him. All of these "failures," which are reported to be in the tens of thousands, simply showed him how not to invent something. His resilience gave the world some of the most amazing inventions of the early 20th century, such as the phonograph, the telegraph, and the motion picture. It's hard to imagine what our world would be like if Edison had given up after his first few failures. His inspiring story forces us to look at our own lives – do we have the resilience that we need to overcome our challenges? Or do we let our failures derail our dreams? And what could we accomplish if we had the strength not to give up? In this article, we'll examine resilience: what it is, why we need it, and how to develop it; so that we have the strength and fortitude to overcome adversity, and to keep on moving forward towards our dreams and our goals. The Importance of ResilienceResilience (or resiliency) is our ability to adapt and bounce back when things don't go as planned. Resilient people don't wallow or dwell on failures; they acknowledge the situation, learn from their mistakes, and then move forward. According to the research of leading psychologist, Susan Kobasa, there are three elements that are essential to resilience:
Another leading psychologist, Martin Seligman, says the way that we explain setbacks to ourselves is also important. (He talks in terms of optimism and pessimism rather than resilience, however, the effect is essentially the same.) This "explanatory style" is made up of three main elements:
In our Expert Interview with Dr. Cal Crow, the co-founder and Program Director of the Center for Learning Connections, Dr. Crow identified several further attributes that are common in resilient people:
How we view adversity and stress strongly affects how we succeed, and this is one of the most significant reasons that having a resilient mindset is so important. The fact is that we're going to fail from time to time: it's an inevitable part of living that we make mistakes and occasionally fall flat on our faces. The only way to avoid this is to live a shuttered and meager existence, never trying anything new or taking a risk. Few of us want a life like that! Subscribe to Our NewsletterReceive new career skills every week, plus get our latest offers and a free downloadable Personal Development Plan workbook. Read our Privacy Policy Instead, we should have the courage to go after our dreams, despite the very real risk that we'll fail in some way or other. Being resilient means that when we do fail, we bounce back, we have the strength to learn the lessons we need to learn, and we can move on to bigger and better things. Overall, resilience gives us the power to overcome setbacks, so that we can live the life we've always imagined. 10 Ways to Build Your ResilienceThe good news is that even if you're not a naturally resilient person, you can learn to develop a resilient mindset and attitude. To do so, incorporate the following into your daily life:
Key PointsResilience is the ability to bounce back when things don't go as planned. According to psychologist, Susan Kobasa, there are three main elements that resilient people possess. These are challenge, commitment, and control. There are 10 key things you can to develop your resilience:
InfographicClick on the thumbnail image below to see our infographic, The Road to Resilience: What is the ability to bounce back from stress called?Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events.
What is the ability to bounce back and learn from difficult situations?Resiliency means learning to bounce back when we face challenging times. It means that a child can eventually realize that he or she can survive, and even thrive, despite encountering difficult situations.
What is a resilient personality?Resilience is the ability to recover from difficult experiences and setbacks, to adapt, move forward and sometimes even experience growth. An individual's resilience is dictated by a combination of genetics, personal history, environment and situational context.
Is resilience a trait?It's the ability to “bounce back” from difficult experiences. Resilience is not a trait that people either have or don't have. It involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in everyone. Resilience is about being adaptable.
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