Resilience is the fine art of being able to spring back from a difficulty. The concept of a resilient person would be like the boxer who, after being walloped hard in the face, is able to sufficiently recover from the blow and begin fighting back against his opponent.
A problem solver is resilient in the face of adversity. There are times when a problem solver can become overwhelmed or frustrated. There will be discouragement in the life of a problem solver and they can certainly be tempted to give up. They might even stop trying for a little bit, but in the end they bounce back. They are resilient.
Likewise, if we want to develop the mindset of being a problem solver, it means that we must develop a firm and strong form of resilience. We need an inner strength that allows us to come back from frustrations and poor situations with strength and determination. So how do we develop a resilient mind? Well, it requires discipline and dedication but it also requires a sense of optimism. If you don’t have the ability to see that things will get better, how can you ever expect to bounce back?
Problem solving isn’t about simply just fixing something. Remember, it is about developing a powerful mindset that allows you to systematically approach any issue in your life and fix it with skill and speed. Attitude is everything when it comes to developing the mindset of the problem solver, because the problem solver must believe that it can be fixed. If you don’t have a sense of optimism toward the thing that you are trying to fix, then you will find the situation to be hopeless. Optimism will lead you to become resilient. You can only bounce back if you think you can win.
Think about the boxer, for a moment. When the boxer in the ring gets hit really hard and falls to the ground, he must get up in order to be able to keep fighting. But what if he is laying on the floor, believing that he is unable to win? Why would he ever stand up? Even if he is in intense pain, even if his vision is blurry and his muscles are aching, he must have, above all, optimism and a belief that he can win. Then, and only then, can he bounce back. He can hold to his resilience and stand up to fight back.
Likewise, if we don’t have the optimism when looking at our problems, we will never develop the mindset of the problem solver. The problem solver’s job is to look at the situation and figure out how he can solve it. But the underlying belief is that the problem can and will be solved. If the problem solver were to look at the situation and say “well this is hopeless,” then why would they ever go about trying to fix the problem?
At the end of the day, in order to become resilient, we must develop an optimism that things will improve. We must look at the challenges in front of us as solvable and we must look at ourselves as the people who have the capability of solving it.
