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Transcript

Finding Your Way Back to Strength · The Strength Catalyst

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to Introspective Moments.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Colleen Biseli, an executive coach and a strength strategist.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Each week I'll spend just a few minutes exploring one strength to use our strengths with greater intention and to notice how they shape our work, our relationships, and our everyday lives.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe something at work didn't go as planned.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you received disappointing news or had a conversation that left you feeling discouraged.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: What helped you get back to feeling like yourself?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Did you call a friend?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe go for a walk?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe immerse yourself in something you love doing?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I ask because I believe we each have our own sources of resilience.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And often those sources are found in the strengths we already possess.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I know the strengths that energize you can also help restore you.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're exploring the strength of resilience.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: In the Skills Discovery Assessment, resilience describes someone who can take hardships in stride, recovers quickly, and gets on with things again.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: We often admire people who seem to recover quickly from adversity.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you can think of someone like this.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can think of many people who seem to face challenge after challenge, hardship after hardship, and somehow keep smiling.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: One of those people is a woman named Annie.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Annie was just seven years old when her father died, and she watched her mother navigate the challenges of raising a family through grief, drawing on her fortitude, drawing on their close family relationships, and their faith.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And years later, when Annie's family faced another exceptionally difficult chapter, she drew on the lessons she learned throughout her life.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Annie describes resilience as a toolbox.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how she put it: we're born with an empty toolbox filled only with faith and love for family.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Every life experience, especially the hard ones, add the tools we need to carry on.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love that toolbox image.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I've come to know Annie and her strengths, and I can see so many of those tools at work in her life.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's her optimism, which helps her see possibilities even during difficult times.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's got a resolver strength that helps her find solutions, and she's got a prevention strength that helps her anticipate what could go wrong and prepare for it.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she draws on her innovation to think outside the box when facing a challenge.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I've also observed her gratitude strength for the good things in her life, even during difficult times.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: She's always recounting those.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So these are some of the tools in Annie's toolbox.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And together they help explain how she finds her way through adversity.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And imagine what it must feel like to be around someone who can draw on those strengths when things get difficult.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Someone who can acknowledge a challenge while helping others see a way forward.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: To me, it feels uplifting and inspiring to be around people like that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Here's something that coaching has taught me.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: We don't all recover from difficult experiences in the same way.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: We don't all have the same strengths as Annie.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when I work with someone who's feeling discouraged, maybe depleted or overwhelmed, I often encourage them to draw upon the strengths they use naturally that they perform well and they genuinely feel energized by.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I often give people a very simple example.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: If organizer is one of your strengths, you might come home after a miserable day and decide to organize your spice drawer.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it sounds almost silly, doesn't it?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the small activity such as that allows you to use a strength that comes naturally and gives you energy.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly you feel a little more in control, even though nothing about your difficult day really has changed.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Or someone with a relationship deepening strength might find that spending time with a trusted friend helps them regain perspective or just be distracted.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And someone with creativity as a strength might find satisfaction in taking things they already have and putting them together in a new way, perhaps discovering an unexpected solution to a problem.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what I know: you don't have to have resilience as one of your top strengths to become more resilient.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes using another strength or two helps you feel more like yourself again, even when the original problem hasn't changed.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But like every strength, resilience can be underplayed or overplayed.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: When we underplay resilience, we can become so absorbed in a setback that we forget to draw on the strengths that might help us regain our footing.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Overplaying resilience can look quite different.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've noticed even that some people become so accustomed to overcoming challenges that they begin taking on more difficult situations than they need to.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: After all, they know they can handle adversity.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they may even take pride in being the person who can always push through.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: But constantly overcoming challenges can take a toll physically and mentally.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I know that myself.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the most intentional use of resilience is recognizing that you don't have to tackle every difficult situation.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: You might ask for help, set a boundary, or choose a different path.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And being resilient doesn't mean you have to prove how much you can withstand.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here's something I'd like you to notice this week.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Think about a time when you felt especially energized, confident, capable, kind of in control, and ask yourself, which of your strengths were you using?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the next time you encounter a setback or have a particularly difficult day, find a small way to put one of those strengths to work, or maybe more than one, and then notice how you feel afterward.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You may discover that the very strengths that help you perform at your best can also help you recover when life gets difficult.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if nothing else, please remember this.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: The strains that energize you can also help restore you.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for spending these few minutes with me.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, take a few moments to be introspective and notice what changes.