Over the last several years, business owners have struggled with a lack of employees, COVID-19, a virtual workforce, recession, a political divide, supply chain problems, inflation and war.
What does it take to run a successful business amidst those disruptions? It’s tough enough to generate profits in a typical business environment, and it gets much more challenging in the abnormal business environment that we have right now.
How can you cope?
Business owners and employees must be resilient, deal with stress and persevere no matter how long the tough times last. Let’s consider what you can do to push through stress, disappointment and setbacks on your road to success. Thinking about your mindset and resilience is essential to succeed in the long run.
Resilience refers to the ability of a person or group to bounce back from hardship. Being resilient is crucial to success because you can adapt quickly when faced with change. How do you develop resilience, and what are the most important traits for being resilient?
1. Develop flexibility
Try to be open minded about new things and business approaches and explore different viewpoints on life issues with people who think differently than you. Flexibility builds creativity, confidence and self-esteem, which will help us persevere in difficult times.
2. Change your perspective
Practice changing how you view difficult times. For example, instead of focusing on the negative consequences of a challenging situation, ask yourself what lessons you can learn from this experience.
Consider how there may be some good aspects, even though they may not always be easy to see. Changing your perspective can help you put any difficult time into perspective. You’ll still need to deal with the issue at hand, but it won’t feel like such a burden if you’re looking at the positive side of things.
More tips for bouncing back
Here are other ways you can be more resilient in difficult times:
- Practice mindfulness or meditation for 10 minutes each day.
- Increase your exercise by walking outside for 20 minutes daily. This will increase oxygen flow to your brain and reduce stress.
- Monitor your thoughts without judging or allowing them to distract you from the task.
- Overly aggressive goals could be counterproductive. Start small and then increase in scope and complexity.
- Identify what’s causing you pain, and find ways to release it. Let go of any expectations of perfectionism. They will only lead to frustration and negative feelings about yourself and make it hard to get things done on time.
- Recognize when you’re feeling negative emotions, and don’t let them take over your life completely. Remind yourself that everyone feels like this sometimes. But the feelings pass with time if you give yourself the space for reflection and the support you need.
- Spend time with friends who make you laugh!
Recover quickly from setbacks
There will be setbacks for your company, staff, family and you. Develop a strategy for bouncing back through difficult times. Here are four techniques:
- Find meaning in the setback by asking yourself what was accomplished or learned. What did you do well?
- Create an action plan to prevent similar setbacks from happening again. You might also want to change your work to be more prepared the next time a similar problem occurs.
- Get involved now with your support system that includes family, friends and church groups.
- Take a step back. Breathe and relax. Many of the problems are not that significant. Remember the saying, “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
Business people must be able to deal with whatever life throws at them – demanding bosses, tough negotiations or intense workloads – while maintaining high productivity levels. Remember to focus on what’s essential: your family, friends and values.
When they read your eulogy, no one will mention your bank account, the square footage of your house or the revenue from your business.
Mahatma Gandhi believed that if you couldn’t change the circumstances, you could change your attitude. He persevered through many adversities by being resilient. You can, too.
