An exercise I did during a Resilience Advantage presentation at the Million Dollar Consulting® Conference in Boston last week led to an observation by the audience that they generally just don’t bounce back from adversity or even bounce forward but that for many of them, the change had a sling-shot effect propelling them out of trouble and into something exponentially better. Our discussion was around their careers and they found that when they had a downturn (loss of job, failed success on a project, or working for the wrong company) that negative situation focused their energy, motivated their intentions, and gave them a quick kick in their butt for action. As we discussed the successes they had in their careers, Read More

I received my income tax returns from my accountant, Michele, over the weekend and am getting a small refund. Whew. As a practical joke this year, I came to her office to deliver my well organized material but instead of sharing that with her, I told her I did not have time to categorize material and was instead just dropping off a legal box of papers hoping she would have time to go through everything…Not funny I’m sure she thought! Accountants report a high degree of stress in their work with over 50% reporting increasingly higher levels over the past 5 years. Predictably these relate to workload volume, time deadlines, and changing rules and requirements from the IRS, not to Read More

Everybody is resilient. Resilience is hardwired into us but sometimes the software is corrupted and our brain and heart are out of sync. This is where community and friends make a difference. If you believe in the inherent strength of resilience, then it is easy to support someone who is in a shaky place by helping them discover their own inner gifts. The key to that is to be a good listener. Allowing others to explore their own thinking and receiving validation or affirmation of their ideas usually leads them to the wisdom of the best solution for them. Here are some reminders on how you can be an amazing listener who makes a real difference in people’s lives. First Read More

At the Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference I spoke at last week, an important topic of conversation was about re-setting mindset. Mindset is generally considered to be a set of ideas or beliefs that we establish that guide much of our behavior. I brought this topic up in my session as a way of helping peoples change the way they currently think about stress so that they can create more of a resilient framework upon facing challenges. One woman in the group shared that prior to her decision to get a divorce, all she could think about was how her life would be over and that she would not know how to deal with her life challenges. After Read More