A Mental Picture On Resilience

It is commonplace these days to be told “Learn, Unlearn and Relearn” during a motivational seminar. I find that most people will return to their former self once they step out the door and go back to their “normal” world. This in not the “resilience” that I am sharing about in this blog post unless you return to a stronger position than before – like The Transformers in the picture above.

The resilience that I wish to emphasize is in the Resilience Quotient (RQ). An improved RQ will help young people to have the courage, when needed, to face the two dreaded Rs: Retrenchment and unplanned Retirement.

Retire – Do What Dictionary of Management

Resilience: Transformer-like ability to return to the original shape and form after being attacked

I hope that giving you the analogy between the Transformers and resilience helps to anchor a mental picture for you.

One Special Quote That Has Inspired Me To Be Resilient

In my teens, I enjoyed reading adventure stories. I remember feeling the cold and sharing the hunger pangs of Robert Falcon Scott, on his return journey from the South Pole. Exhaustion, cold and starvation contributed to his and his companions’ deaths. The line on the cross was inscribed with Tennyson’s words “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” 

This quote – “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”  has inspired me to work through the night if need be to complete a task, keep an engagement even when I’m feeling too tired, avoid saying I am tired to get away with not doing something, remind myself not to give up! These days, young people excuse themselves from not doing certain tasks with a simple “I am tired” / “I have no time” / “I am busy” and other similar excuses.

The One Speech Which Inspired A Nation

I visited the Churchill War Rooms in May last year. My main objective was to listen to Sir Winston Churchill’s great wartime speeches within the rooms where the whole war, the Second World War, was directed. 

These are the words that demonstrated the resolve and the resilience of a nation determined to win:

Never give in–never, never, never,
never, in nothing great or small, large or petty,
never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.
Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

The One Friend Who Inspired Me With His Resilience

I met him during a mastermind retreat in Rancho Santa Fe (USA) in 2011. A year later in July, we were enjoying Cuzco, the 4-day Salkantay Trek and  Machu Picchu and another 4 days in the Peruvian Amazon jungle with another four friends.

Werner Berger is that friend whose Resilience Quotient amazes me.

His motto ‘Because I Can’, sum up the attitude and the resilience of the man who values ‘powering-up’ yourself by championing the idea of  ‘No Limits’ in your personal life.

In talks to corporations, he advocates the value of powering up their brands and promotes the idea of ‘No Limits’ too. At age 76 last November, Werner got to the summit of Carstensz Pyramid  and became the oldest person in the world to have climbed the seven Summits- the Climber’s Seven. What do you think you will be doing at age 76?

What About My Own Resilience Story? 

Now perhaps, it’s time for me to share one personal example of resilience in facing the 2 Rs.  Although I was a big potato before, I am just like the rest of you too.

Two years after I was invited to join a hotel and property company, its maiden hotel opened for business and became profitable. That was my job. One day in early January I was asked to attend a company meeting. It was over in less than ten minutes. Why? – because its purpose was to hand me a letter and a cheque. In the on-going exercise then to streamline the organisation, a handful of staff were laid off.

Despite assurances during our management meetings that no senior staff would be affected, I was retrenched ~ early retirement, mutual separation etc are just euphemistic HR speak. It was better that it happened to me and not to my two children and their friends. It was traumatic – sudden and with no early signs. I resolved to tell myself that the “mourning” be limited to 3 days.

Well, the first thing I told my wife was “We are free to travel” and so we did. I found out that despite help from senior people, no HR would take in a 62-year-old. So I decided to travel my childhood journey again, but this time round I had things to purge from my head – the things to unlearn. And I had to relearn. LoL ! I attended the mega 3-day NAC event in 2010, listening to gurus purveying from expensive motivational programmes to many get-rich-quick investment seminars.

I was motivated to learn and so I bought an Internet Marketing programme and a best-selling author programme. With new skills and knowledge, I am now adopting Sir Richard Branson’s oft-quoted strategy – ‘Do Good, Have Fun And The Money Will Come”. So I am writing to share my experiences, insights, knowledge and wisdom on the world stage. By leveraging the Internet. I can share them faster, further and more efficiently and effectively to more young and the not-too-young people.

Wally Amos – A Sterling Example Of  Resilience

I should like to include a sterling example of enduring resilience. He is the 76-year old multi-talented founder of the “Famous Amos” chocolate chip cookie brand, entrepreneur and host of the adult reading program, Learn To Read.

He lost ownership of his Famous Amos cookie company in the 1980s and is reinventing his brand yet again, and also himself in no fewer than half a dozen times. Amos says his previous successes and failures taught him to never give up.

The Road Ahead

The road ahead promises to be rocky and rough, but with a strong measure of resilience, the road can be navigated. Life ahead will be full of changes and challenges. Jobs will be destroyed and hopefully, the same number can be created but this is another uncertainty.

The younger generation will see and experience these: companies being bought out, or merged into oblivion. You will be doing the work of 3, 4 or 5 people and you will feel the stress, want to get out and start your own small business. And you will not be alone.

Take heart. Work on your RESILIENCE Quotient now.

“You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars and you have a right to be here.” ~ Desiderata