Happy summer! Here in the Northeast, we're experiencing an unrelenting heat wave. The weather is much like it was in the Grand Canyon in May, when my husband and I, along with our close friends, took a white water rafting trip down the Colorado River. After spending literally months angsting over every aspect of this trip (I had only ever camped out one night in my life!), it turned out to be the best vacation I've ever had. This picture of me was taken just before we helicoptered into the bottom of the canyon.

This newsletter is devoted to the topic of resilience. The ideas are drawn from my recent exploration into the fundamentals of NeuroLeadership: The application of recent findings in neuroscience to coaching and leadership development. It's fascinating. More to come...

Please let me know what you think of this new format!

Thanks, and take care.

Everyday Resilience

Everyday resilience is the capacity to shift in an intentional, deliberate way from feeling threatened by turbulent conditions to feeling positive or at least neutral.

 

 Deborah Reidy    

• Belief that others can be trusted, supportive, and helpful
• Commitment to defining what we have control over and focusing time and energy on "circles of influence." (from victim to volunteer)
• Belief that we are authors of our own lives: Inside-Out perspective
• Commitment to understanding and learning from both the successes and setbacks in our lives
• Commitment to contributing to the lives of others

 

Adapted from Robert Brooks, author and Harvard Medical School faculty

 

Know how your brain works! Have compassion for this remarkable, yet fragile organ. Here are some facts I've been learning about how the brain works:

 

• We have only about a 10 minute attention span. And if we're not paying attention, we won't remember or learn.  Change things up on a regular basis to renew attention.
• We can effectively focus on only one conscious task at a time. If we try to manage multiple conscious tasks at once, we experience a big drop-off in accuracy or performance (David Rock)
• Our attention diminishes significantly with even the slightest distraction. 
• The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), our reasoning brain, is nicknamed "Goldilocks" because it requires just the right set of conditions for optimal functioning.  Too little or too much stress and we become distracted, disorganized and forgetful. It's possible to develop strategies to attain that optimal place. Too little stress, add motivation like deadlines or competition. Too much stress, find a way to experience a feeling of control.

• Learn scientifically-proven techniques to shift mindset and reduce feelings of threat (check out this video for a description:  Control Your Emotions-Cognitive Change) 
• Make connections with other people
• Spend time in a positive fear-free environment
• Get enough sleep, eat well and exercise
• Create a schedule & physical environment that has "distraction free zones" and is conducive to productive thinking
• Pay attention to the times of the day when you perform at your best; do your most important work then
• Slow down
• If you do feel overwhelmed, switch to an easy rote task, tackle the easiest part of a complex task or "warm up" by spending a few minutes doing something unrelated

Adapted from "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform," Edward Hallowell