Well 2020 has been interesting to say the least. But you know what they say, boats are safe in the harbor, but that’s not what boats are built for.
We are always going to be faced with challenges in life and we have an opportunity to access our inherent skills and learn to surf rather than stopping the waves.
If we are going to manage all the challenges we have to do more than just bounce back. We have to be able to bounce forward.
We need to have both resilience and mental toughness if we want to really thrive.
If we are going to develop our resilience and mental toughness then we need to make a conscious effort to embed the habits into our everyday routine that assist us to thrive.
So how do we develop our resilience and mental toughness to manage these challenges and surf these waves? A really good place to start is to have self awareness.
Ask yourself:
What are my current levels of resilience and mental toughness?
How do I behave when adversity strikes?
A great way to build this awareness is around the four Cs of Mental Toughness.
Control - The extent to which you believe you control and shape what happens to you. (Life Control and Emotional Control)
Commitment - The extent to which you do what you say you will do long after the feeling has gone. (Goal Orientation and Achievement Orientation)
Challenge - The extent to which you see challenges, change, adversity and uncertainty as opportunities rather than as threats (Risk Orientation and Learning Orientation)
Confidence - The extent to which you believe you have the capability to deal with what you are facing. (Confidence in Abilities and Interpersonal Confidence)
Recently, fellow Mental Toughness practitioner, Bob Larcher provided some great visuals on the interplay between these 4Cs which I wanted to share.
When you consider the interplay in these areas – we start to identify ourselves and our opportunity to manage in a more proactive way.
Ask yourself – which quadrant am I sitting in?
Control
The interplay between Life Control & Emotional Control, the two components of Control.
Commitment
The interplay between Goal Orientation & Achievement Orientation, the two components of Commitment.
Challenge
Below you will find the interplay between Risk Orientation & Learning Orientation, the two components of Challenge
Confidence
The interplay between Interpersonal Confidence and Confidence in Abilities, the two components of Confidence.
Want to know more about identifying your mental toughness and enhancing your ability to have control, gain commitment, manage challenges and build confidence? Send me an email at michelle@bakjacconsulting.com to enquire about coaching and training to enhance your personal and team mental toughness.
Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Psychologist, Wellbeing Strategist, Leadership and Wellbeing Coach, Speaker and Facilitator. As Director of Bakjac Consulting, she is a credentialed Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a member of Mental Toughness Partners and an MTQ48 accredited Mental Toughness Practitioner. Michelle assists individuals and organisations to develop their Mental Toughness to improve performance, leadership, behaviour and wellbeing. You can find her at www.bakjacconsulting.com or michelle@bakjacconsulting.com
