Building a Resilient Mindset for New Challenges

I recently coached a team leader who had hit a wall. Great instincts, strong vision—but every mistake felt personal. Every critique, a threat. Every missed target, a question of worth. He didn’t need more strategy. He needed to step away from some unexamined narratives stuck on repeat, and... He needed a new "Mantra Playlist" with greatest hits like: -I am not finished. I am forming. -Growth begins where comfort ends. -Struggle is the work. -I choose formation over perfection. -Failure is not final, it's formative. -Curiosity keeps me moving. -Effort shapes what talent cannot. -Progress is slower (and deeper) than it looks. -Who I’m becoming matters more than what I achieve. -Resilience is built, not born. That’s the core of a Growth Mindset. It’s not about faking positivity. It’s not about glossing over failure. It IS about rewiring your perspective (and brain) toward curiosity, learning, and development. And science spells out the payoff: -Teams that adopt growth mindset cultures see higher innovation rates and adaptability (Dweck, Harvard Business Review) -Leaders who model learning over perfection build psychological safety—the #1 predictor of high-performing teams (Google Project Aristotle) Growth Mindset isn’t a posture. It’s a system of belief that shapes resilience. The leaders and teams that endure? They don’t just chase wins. They rewire for formation: "always be learning." 📌 Where are you (or your team) being invited to grow—without needing to get it right the first time? #growthmindset #leadershipdevelopment #groundedandgrowing #formation #learningculture #resilience #leadershiphabits

Give 100% at work? Nope. I aim for 5%. Yes, 5%. As a dragon boat racer, I learned that if 20 people each give 5% effort, our boat surges ahead with 100% power in harmony. But if some paddle at 100% while others give 20%, the boat veers off course (or even capsizes). I've seen the same at work. A few overachievers push themselves to exhaustion while others disengage (I used to be that over-doer who went full throttle until I hit a wall—trust me, it doesn't work). The result? Chaos, inefficiency, and burnout. The problem is we treat resilience like a one-time sprint: face a challenge, push through, done. Real life doesn’t work that way. Challenges keep coming, one after another. Many leaders live in what I call "chronic resilience" mode—bouncing from crisis to crisis without ever fully recovering. (Sound familiar? Late-night emails, 3am mind-racing... it’s not just you.) This constant crisis mode is a recipe for burnout, not growth. 🌟 It’s time for a new approach: sustainable resilience. Instead of running on adrenaline 24/7, it means building strength over time and even changing how we view the storms. In the dragon boat, I can't calm the waves or wind, but I can adjust our direction to work with them. Likewise, sustainable resilience means pausing to regroup, adapting your plan, and moving forward together with purpose. I coach leaders to use a simple framework called the Three Ps of Power to do this: 🐲 Pause. Take a breath, step back, and assess. 🐲🐲 Plan. Chart your next step before you charge ahead. 🐲🐲🐲 Practice. Take action and build the habit of responding (not just reacting) to challenges. Every challenge becomes a little easier when you Pause, Plan, and Practice. Over time, this habit turns the fire of change into fuel for growth. 🔥 Remember: Fire can be fuel when you know how to harness it. If your team is struggling with uncertainty, change, or burnout, let’s talk about building sustainable resilience. Fire is fuel—let’s use it. #Leadership #Resilience #CorporateCulture #MentalStrength

Daily exercise and a good nights sleep ward away all types of physical ailments. It builds your immune system, strengthens your muscles, creates new gateways in your brain, provides energy stores to your cells and many other benefits. These habits help you build resilience in your body. But how do you build resilience in your mind? You need to have a strong daily regiment to build your personal resilience. And in todays rapid change environment, personal resilience is more important than ever. We need to build our mental resilience to avoid getting overwhelmed by the constant barrage of change we experience everyday. In the PWC “Hopes and Fears Survey 2024” nearly two-thirds of employees say they’ve experienced more change at work in the last year than in the 12 months prior, and one-third of workers say they’ve experienced four or more significant changes at work in the last year, including to their team structures and daily job responsibilities. One of my mentees shared with me that they have had 4 managers in the last 12 months. Another shared that 50% of their team was laid off and the workload feels untenable. And a third reported that the charter of their team was changed without notice which has upended every project they were working on. While there is certainly a role that leaders, managers and organizations have in managing change better and in resourcing their teams effectively, there is also a burden that we each have to manage our own mental resiliency to lean into the change and learn through it. I believe that every change presents itself with an opportunity for growth and to build your own effectiveness. But it means we need to learn and then practice the skills to build that resiliency with the discipline necessary to apply it. Some practices like: 1. Practicing being present and not letting your mind dwell on past or future problems – but staying focused on one step at a time as you tackle the challenges and opportunities at hand. 2. Daily prioritization of what is critical, relevant and impactful and setting aside tasks that are not 3. Communicating with leaders, managers and peers about what change is happening and working to make sense of that change in your own mind – building out perspective and making meaning 4. Leaning on others for support to help you through the change and recognizing when you are feeling overwhelmed 5. Building strategies to help yourself when you get to the point of feeling overwhelmed – breathing exercises, meditation, taking walks, writing things down, stepping away are some of the mechanisms I have used to calm myself when I feel overwhelmed. Finding what works for you What are some practices and habits that you have found that have helped you build out your personal resiliency? #reslience #changemanagement #leadership #allies https://lnkd.in/gzRk2qey