Resiliency invites success

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that as entrepreneurs and humans, if we are anything, we are resilient.  After a colleague recently labeled me as “resilient” and “full of tenacity” when I shared a brief review of my journey to today, I, Jodie Gallant, Business and Brand Strategist/Coach and forever lover of learning, dove right in to researching about resiliency.

I was curious about how he chose this label for me and why I had not considered it a skill I had. What I found was that this does not just apply to me, but how I view and see so many successful and aspiring entrepreneurs today.  The American Psychological Association defines resilience as, “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity.” If you own a business today, especially in 2020, you know how valuable resiliency is as its defined. It is an essential trait in order to be a sustainable business owner. 

It reminds me of that 1997 Chumbawamba song TUBTHUMPING – “I get knock down, but I get up again” (sorry, that song is stuck in my head now too).  When we get knocked down, what does it take to get back up and come back even stronger?  RESILIENCY! Saying “YES” after a setback requires us to be resilient. 

As I got deeper into this study, my curiosity grew into wondering and looking to answer these questions: How can people leverage it?  How can they learn to adapt to diversity in a thriving way? What are the tools to thrive when faced with seemingly constant challenges? What I found was the 7 C’s of Resiliency, and this is how I interpret them:

1. Competence - The ability to handle stressful situations effectively, so as to look for possibility rather than throw out an emotional reaction.

2. Confidence: The belief in one’s own abilities. I believe this comes from being confident in the areas that you are most comfortable in, and the responsibility to own the awareness to where your confidence lacks so you can work on building that up and growing trust in yourself.

3. Connection: Your tribe, your people, you know the humans you can REALLY talk to and confide in to problem solve, cheerlead, guide or just simply support you. In order to lead a business, you need tough loving supportive people that can also hold you accountable. For me, building my tribe of like-minded business owners shifted my confidence to have competence. (That’s a lot of C’s.)

4. Character: A strong sense of self-worth, being in touch with your values and being comfortable sticking to them. Character to me is also tied to integrity, knowing, and trusting a strong sense of right and wrong to be prepared to make honorable choices.

5. Contribution: This is your WHY. Holding tightly to why you are doing this (business) in the first place. Your mission, your purpose. If you do not know YOUR WHY, your PUPOSE, your MISSION, then one can risk lacking the courage and willingness to take action and make choices to survive, pivot, and grow.  

6. Coping: This one gets me. People often feel the victim, but we choose our feelings and our reactions – life is happening for us, not to us. Resiliency requires us as humans to not tie our self-worth to the success or challenges of your business. You are not your business; you are you. Detaching from the outcome and controlling how we respond is where coping can rise us up to handle anything that comes our way.

7. Control: 2020 taught this one hard and fast. There is no certainty, we ONLY have control over our decisions and actions. So, we need to be better decision makers to take the action that matters most.

I am sure like me; you can recall moments in your journey that it paid to be resilient. For me, these are the key factors that allowed me as the business owner to persevere and own my tenacity.

·         Be adaptable, able to change and invite new ways of doing things (easy ways if possible, we make things so hard)

·         Be decisive, give things the green light, action gets results

·         Look ahead, if we keep looking at the hurt and the past, we can’t move forward

·         Maintain optimism

·         Do not be stubborn, be open to new ways

·         Communicate, share, and listen to your team. Transparency invites more minds to create.   

·         Ask for help. There are smarter and more experienced people that are willing to help and are also detached from the circumstance. This invites external perspective

Tap into your experience this year, wrap your hands around your tenacity and how resilient you are and embrace this fortitude to move with strength into 2021. We have what it takes.