Everyone has some principles. Many philosophers try to distil these into simple first principles of hope and enjoyment. No matter what is thrown at us, should we decide to live through it, at the bottom of everything, we need to either believe in a better end or simply enjoy the situation we are in. Rilke captured it well in his Widening Circles poem. Following up on Rilke’s thought, life can be seen as a constant pulse over varied-range circles. Only when we stop to pulse … we die. How well we deal with these pulses is called resilience.

Resilience is a term that has gained prominence in recent years, not only in psychology and mental health but also in various aspects of life. It refers to an individual’s ability to adapt and bounce back from challenges, setbacks, and adversity. Resilience is not a static trait, but a dynamic quality that can be cultivated and strengthened over time. To me personally, it is also my endurance.

This endurance-resilience is a complex construct influenced by biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Today I’d mainly like to concentrate on biological and psychological factors, which I find important. Which I am working with daily.

Biological factors can significantly impact an individual’s resilience, influencing their ability to cope with stress, adversity, and challenging life situations. So the first thing to take care of when working on your resilience is the biological base.

Walking in the morning and late evening is something that works for me well. Mainly for the infrared-rich sunlight. The quality of light we are exposed to has a wide array of bio-regulatory impact, as is being discovered by more and more academic research. Then comes the food. And there isn’t a great answer here. Most of the diet research shows things like 60% of people react better to diet A vs diet B. But what about then the remaining 40%? So personally, I just follow what allows me to keep high energy levels throughout the day, rather than following fashion or the next best book about diet, or what my friends try to convince me to do. I also try to keep myself moving regularly, whether it’s football, hiking or just walking the dog. Again—I am personally against following a strict physical training regime. If I’d need to force myself to follow a specific bestselling advice—not for me. I must like the type of physical activity to perform it. And science so far shows that most likely a moderately paced walk of up to 2h a day is probably the healthiest physical activity available to all.

There are many other factors that can affect this biological base of endurance-resilience. These may be very specific to you, like early life traumatic experiences, or to the environment, like living in a very polluted area. This is a pretty good article to start off from.

As for the psychological factor. Resilient individuals often exhibit high levels of psychological flexibility, which involves being open to experiences, accepting difficult emotions, and adapting to changing circumstances. Research in neuroscience has also shown that the brain is capable of adapting and rewiring itself throughout life. This property, known as neuroplasticity, underlies the brain’s ability to learn and recover from trauma. Engaging in activities that challenge the brain, such as learning new skills, can enhance resilience.

Simply put—after building a solid biological resilience-endurance base, open yourself to the world and things you were found unlikely to do. Whether it’s reading books you always thought will bore you. Taking up a DIY hobby, you always thought you are helpless at. Learning a bit of molecular biology, or simply talking to a person you never got to know properly, but always heard bad things about. Otherwise, the risk coming from science is clear—the narrower your experience set, the higher the likelihood that unexpected ‘pulses of life’ will throw you out of balance. A lot.

Through my life, I also tried a bit of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, generative coaching, autohypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Not saying all had the answers I liked, but what mattered was the new experience.

Robert Dilts, one of my favourite authors, had said that we can’t predict who we’ll be in the future. It’s close to impossible to say, given the ‘pulses of life’ change and bend (or kill) us whether we like it or not. So why not try to change and bend our life consciously ourselves? Who knows what we could become?

I have written the above mainly to help to support other people performing the leader-manager role. Which in fact could be simplified to being a role model. In other words, a person that can provide guidance, reassurance, direction, and grounding in difficult situations (besides just ensuring low attrition for your employer).

How can we (managers) do it, if we don’t regularly take care of our own resilience?