Wisdom 

is knowing what to do next, 

Skill 

is knowing how to do it, 

and 

Virtue 

is doing it.

I found a book entitled 

"How To Be Amazing At Anything". 

It had only a single page inside 

and it was just one word long: 

PRACTICE.

ARE YOU RESILIENT?

In my experience as a transition coach I have discovered that resilience is a key factor in successfully navigating change. Especially negative change, like the loss of a job or a divorce. 

The dictionary defines resilience as:

1. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.
2. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Are you resilient? I think you are. I think we all are. It’s just a matter of developing the right attitude. It’s not easy. It takes guts to “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start over again”. It takes fortitude not to give up when it gets hard. It takes courage and self confidence not to let the thing that precipitated your change paralyze you into not moving forward. But it’s worth it. 

An acquaintance of mine made a mistake, a big one that cost her company money, and she lost her job. She was devastated. She came to me in fear and in failure, seeking help in her time of crisis. The first thing we did is analyze the situation. It turned out that the error wasn’t hers directly, but was made by one of her employees. Being new to management, she had difficulty not feeling as if she had been wronged. But upon further analysis she realized that although it wasn’t her error, it was her responsibility. She was responsible for the work of her employees and her real error was not being a diligent supervisor. We also worked on her reluctance to try to find a new job. It was difficult for her to put herself out there again after her perceived failure. 

Armed with her new self awareness and courage, she studied effective management techniques while she searched for a new job. She used all her resources, networking and building relationships instead of hiding out in shame because of her failure. Within a few months she had a new job, a better understanding of the skills needed to manage employees and the confidence of knowing that she overcame her failure and was stronger, smarter and more confident because of it.

So you failed or you had a bad break. Everybody does. How many times did Edison fail before he successfully invented the lightbulb? The trick is to learn from your failures and move on. Don’t beat yourself up, don’t be afraid to try again, just analyze what went wrong. Think about how you would change the situation if you could relive it with the knowledge you now have. Then, just like a research scientist, make the adjustments and start confidently on a new path.

Failure 

is only the opportunity 

to begin again, 

only this time 

more wisely.