If Lockdown was a Sunday — An Experience Based Model For Resilience

As per Big 5/Hogan models of Personality, Resilience may constitute any or all of the following traits :

Thoroughness | Self-discipline | Consistency | Predictability | Control | Reliability| Resourcefulness | Hard work | Energy | Perseverance | Planning

#Covid19 has both forced and inspired us to innovate. Resilience has been tested and as someone so beautifully put across to me — We need Resilience not just to be productive but also ‘not to burn out’. Discerning between what is required in the short term and what is important in the long term is something that we have all been led to during these times.

In the process of this reflection, here are learnings that I imbibed. Being both an Athlete and a Leadership Consultant, I use both the contexts to share this model of Resilience.

REBOUND

In sports, there are many times when that one match/race doesn’t go as per plan and training. When the season begins, athletes follow a structured plan, stay disciplined with the nutrition, hydration and prep…they continuously grind…

And then after months of disciplined effort and regular practice, sometimes something happens during the race/match — something unexpected and outside their control. Result — losing a match/race. The feeling that follows is Disappointment…Frustration…Anger…

Most athletes have encountered this. Also, most athletes have NOT stopped playing or racing because of this. They generally sweat over the disappointment for the next 2–3 days and then they are back on the track to do what they do best — get out there and train.

What helps them step aside from the feelings/emotions and get back to the daily grind of the practice is one of the 2 things : one, they enjoy the process and second — they enjoy the sense of accomplishment they anticipate in the next match.

And that is really what it takes — knowing that these times are exceptional — like that one unexpected match. When the Covid crisis hit, it left everyone with some of these feelings….anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment. This crisis is that unexpected match that leaves you feeling disappointed. But then as an athlete you pick yourself up and “Rebound with Grace”.

In these times, keep your eye on the ‘long term’ while you deal with the ‘Here & Now’. Know that this is training and prep time for the next match — for that time when the crisis has passed and opportunities present themselves to you. Understand that disappointments are just that — disappointments. They are neither a judgement on you, nor a general trend. They happen as an exception and are outside of your control. They do leave you temporarily frustrated but Rebound is always hard. Rebound is that quiet thing which tests your strength everyday. Because you have to rebound on difficult days. And when you aggregate so many difficult days, you are quietly getting stronger.

REST & RECOVER

Allow me to acknowledge that some of us (A type) might take this ‘Rebound’ to mean that we push ourselves even more — in every way possible. So, it is with a sense of urgency, that I present to you the second pillar for Resilience — Rest and Recovery.

Given the times as they are, many of us utilised some of the initial time on ourselves — learning new skills, focusing on our health , cooking for ourselves and family etc.

Much of this is inadvertently helping us Recover.

We might be recovering, but are we Rested? And what really is the difference between Rest and Recovery? While engaging ourselves in cooking, playing indoor games with family, doing zoom coffee/drinks with friends, we may be getting Recovery but not really getting any Rest. Each one of us really needs both.

Rest = Bring yourself to a state of equilibrium/calm.

Recovery = Do something that rejuvenates you.

As you can see, while Recovery is very important, it is not a substitute for Rest.

Use this time to rest and recover various systems — physical, mental and emotional. Focus on things that give you energy and help you release the long held stresses — do things you don’t do otherwise, but don’t compromise on basics like ‘sleep’ and nutrition’.

In mixing Rest and Recovery appropriately, we Rebound better and become Resilient in the longer run.

REFLECT AND RESET

Reflect and Reset is the third pillar. Because as someone said “All that is important comes in quietness and waiting”. If all this Lockdown period was really one long Sunday…the Sunday that you get to Rebound, Rest and Recover from the fatigue of the previous week, you would Rebound, Rest and many of you would also utilise some little time in the latter part of Sunday to planning the coming week. Reflect and Rest is that time.

After you rest well, the rest is bound to recharge you and then you would be raring to go. But before you actually take on ‘the new norm’ or before you start to operate with your newly acquired skills and focus, it is time to reflect upon what has been working for you in pre-Covid times and what are some of the new learnings and some things you want to gently change.

There are many thought starters you can leverage to trigger this thinking — one possible question to ask yourself is ‘what have I really enjoyed while staying home during the Lockdown’…the answers could range from ‘Catching up on reading’, ‘the daily board game with my kids’, ‘the weekly zoom call with the extended family’ etc. Now pick one or two of these up and take these forward to when the times get back to normal.

As you get back to office environs, structure some of these things too — add these every other day or weekly or as your schedule permits. This would not hamper your productivity or time utilization, rather would keep you highly productive — by not just avoiding burnout but also making you deeply happy.

Overall, try not to jump from being in a Lockdown to an unthought of, mechanical Monday. Reflect on your Lockdown experience and reset your ‘going back to office gradually and purposefully.

REFOCUS

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then,” said Alice when she was in Wonderland. And was she right! She said it because she was undergoing an identity crisis - she had grown and shrunk back down, but like everything in the book, there was more to it than literal meanings.

And my reference here is to the changes in our context that we have learnt about, the new requirements in business that we have understood — making meaning out of all the deluge of information about businesses, governments, changing consumer requirements and being able to Refocus on what propositions and offerings would be successful in post Covid world — if you are an individual — what skills would you need to acquire and in what form would you offer those to your customer. If you are a business owner, how will you proactively manage the changes that you need to make with regard to ensuring customer success.

Also, unlike many popular models that rely heavily on strengths, science really talks about picking up development areas and working on those — so if you have Reflected and worked on the development areas for yourself and for your business, then Refocusing on the results will be easier because you are better equipped both with awareness and action plans for these development areas.

“No matter how bleak or menacing a situation may appear, it does not entirely own us. It can’t take away our freedom to respond, our power to take action.” Ryder Carroll

― Ryder Carroll