Turn adversity into opportunity

- Resilience is ability to readily return to original form after an adverse event. Tapping into your own self-reliance means using the inevitable adversity of your life to improve upon the original form. There's a great deal of scholarship and how we respond to adversity from Dr. Paul Stoltz. He outlined four core dimensions of one's Adversity Quotient. Control, determines that you can influence whatever happens next and take control of the elements of the situation that are actually controllable. Ownership is to decide to do something to improve the situation regardless of whether you have the legitimate authority or not. Reach is the ability to understand that the adversity of a current situation is limited in scope and does not affect every fiber of your being. Endurance is to know the situation and adversity is temporary and you have the ability to see it through and endure. If you see members of your team looking at adverse situation as permanent, pervasive, or personal, you have someone who is exhibiting pessimistic tendencies. Take the optimistic approach and help them see the difficult time as temporary, limited and external. It's all a matter of perspective. And it's up to you, as a leader, to help bring people to the source of their own power. The bottom line is to help them see they can choose in or they can choose out. We all start with the best of intentions but we need periodic solitude to reflect on our progress and how we're responding to challenges. Is your locus of control internal or external? Are you approaching those you seek to influence as realistic optimists or helpless pessimists? Are you simply being resilient or are you using the inevitable setbacks to make your team better, stronger, and ultimately, more fulfilled by overcoming adversity? Remember, you can't test your resilience if you don't leave your comfort zone. The most resilient people start at the end of their comfort zone. So focus on the goal and zero in on it.