Maybe last weekend’s July 4^th celebration will help us turn a corner and begin to put the past year of Covid life behind us. We’ve certainly been caught up in the moment, panicking, it seems like, to make sure we are playing frantically and figuring out how we can return to work in some manner that creates a productive and healthy workplace.

As I’ve written and spoken with you before, the ideas of the Resilience Advantage go beyond simply thinking of resilience as something more than just “bouncing back.”  Instead my model of resilience and the “Resilience Advantage Continuum” helps us understand the spectrum of challenges we may be facing  including what is coming down the pike (our future), how we can deal with current difficulties with more grace and ease (the present) and then how we learn from these struggles so we “bounce forward” instead of  just bouncing back (the future)

This week, I want to revisit with you some ideas around preparation. Now that we can see that the light at the end of the tunnel is sunshine, how do we want to make sure we keep that brilliance in our lives.

1. Focus on the Good: Research is clear that our mindset changes our biology and if we focus on what is not working, we continue to  perpetuate it. Unless you have lost a loved one, been seriously ill yourself, been a first responder or health care worker, the Pandemic over the past has been challenging but manageable.  Look for how well you adjusted to it all.
2. Use Your Energy Wisely: We tend to focus on trying to manage time, but energy is the real measure of living our lives and getting work done (the definition of energy.) Consider measuring your energy (you can download my Energy Trackers here) and identify the times when your energy is high or low.
3. Passion, Passion, Passion:  What are you valuing today. It will be a shame if we are not using the transformational power of this crisis to ask what is most important. I am hearing more people saying that they want their lives to have more meaning and I read a quote from Anthony Hopkins that I am now embracing:

“None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean!