Building Resilience Skills

Thousands of studies. Dozens of leading psychology researchers. Decades of experiments on why some people keep going when others quit… and I’ve boiled it down to the 7 biggest takeaways: 1. Action before motivation. Peter Gollwitzer’s work on implementation intentions shows that taking even the smallest step kickstarts a psychological commitment loop. Action fuels motivation more reliably than waiting to “feel ready.” 2. Make your goals specific. Locke & Latham’s Goal Setting Theory (over 1,000 studies) found that specific, challenging goals (“Run 3 times this week”) consistently lead to higher performance than vague ones (“Get fitter”). 3. Progress fuels persistence. According to the goal‐gradient hypothesis, motivation increases as we get closer to a goal. Studies in both animals and people show that small wins, like filling in progress bars or checking off steps, supercharge persistence. 4. Meaning beats willpower. Roy Baumeister found that willpower is finite, but Victor Frankl’s work on meaning and Kashdan & McKnight’s research on purpose show that a deep “why” sustains effort far beyond raw self-control. 5. Shape your environment. Wendy Wood’s research on habits shows that high self-control people don’t rely on willpower alone; they design their surroundings so the desired action is easy and temptations are out of reach. 6. Use social accountability. Harkins & Szymanski demonstrated the audience effect: people persist longer when others can see or expect their effort. More recently, Gollwitzer & Sheeran’s meta-analysis found that public commitments increase follow-through rates significantly. 7. Expect setbacks. Motivation oscillates; it’s not a flat line. Dörnyei’s process-oriented model outlines how motivation ebbs, flows, and needs recalibration. That shifting energy gives you data. And through it all, there’s one big takeaway: Stop waiting for motivation. Take action. Which one is most relevant for you?

SELF BELIEF > INTELLIGENCE Believing in yourself is often more critical than raw intelligence. Intelligence can sometimes lead to overanalysis, hesitation, and self-doubt, hindering progress. On the other hand, confidence drives action, resilience, and the ability to learn from failures. Balancing intelligence with self-belief enables you to take risks, make decisions, and persevere through challenges. 1. Cultivate Self-Belief: * Affirmations: Start each day with positive affirmations reinforcing your abilities and potential. Statements like "I am capable," "I trust my judgment," and "I can achieve my goals" can boost your confidence. * Celebrate Successes: Keep a journal of your achievements, big or small. Reflecting on past successes can remind you of your capabilities and build your self-esteem.
 2. Manage Overthinking: * Set Time Limits: When faced with a decision, give yourself a specific amount of time to analyse and then commit to a choice. This prevents paralysis by analysis. * Simplify Decisions: Break complex decisions into smaller, manageable parts. Focus on one aspect at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
 3. Embrace Failure: * Learn and Adapt: View failures as opportunities to learn and grow. Analyse what went wrong, adjust your approach, and try again with newfound knowledge. * Resilience Practice: Develop resilience by challenging yourself to step out of your comfort zone regularly. The more you face and overcome challenges, the more confident you will become.
 4. Balance Intelligence with Action: * Trust Your Gut: Sometimes, intuition can guide you better than overanalysis. Learn to trust your instincts and make decisions with confidence. * Take Calculated Risks: Use your intelligence to assess risks, but don’t let fear of failure stop you from taking action. Embrace uncertainty and move forward with confidence.
 5. Seek Support: * Mentors and Peers: Surround yourself with supportive people who believe in you and encourage your growth. Seek mentors who can provide guidance and feedback. * Positive Environment: Create an environment that fosters positivity and growth. Minimise interactions with negative influences that may undermine your confidence.
 6. Continuous Improvement: * Lifelong Learning: Commit to continuous learning and self-improvement. Embrace new challenges and opportunities to expand your skills and knowledge. * Set Realistic Goals: Establish achievable goals that push you slightly out of your comfort zone. As you achieve these goals, your confidence will grow.

A recent EY study found that 94% of senior executives who played team sports believe it helped them develop leadership and strategic thinking skills. Rugby, with its intensity and structure, offers one of the clearest parallels to high-performance business environments. What do you think about this play? 🏉 Strategic thinking + The average rugby player makes 220–250 rapid decisions per match — about one every 15 seconds. + Teams that analyze opponent patterns with data-driven strategies increase win rates by up to 30%, much like analytics-driven businesses outperform competitors. 🤝 Team cohesion + In elite rugby, 15 players operate as one unit — each with a defined role yet adaptable to shifting dynamics. + According to Gallup, organizations with high team engagement see 21% higher profitability and 59% lower turnover — results that mirror high-trust rugby squads. 🔥 Resilience + A typical match involves 120–140 physical tackles, but players reset and rejoin the game in seconds. + Neuroscience studies show athletes trained for resilience recover focus 60% faster after stress — a skill increasingly vital in leadership and crisis management. 🎯 Leadership under pressure + Captains must make tactical calls in less than 3 seconds, often without full information — a perfect metaphor for executive decision-making in uncertain markets. + A Deloitte study found leaders who thrive under pressure are 70% more likely to drive above-average team performance. Whether you’re facing a market challenge or an opposing scrum, the principles remain the same: Stay focused. Trust your team. Adapt fast. And keep driving forward — no matter the pressure. #Leadership #Teamwork #Rugby #BusinessStrategy #Resilience #HighPerformance #DecisionMaking #GrowthMindset #LeadershipDevelopment #SportsLeadership #TeamCulture #Motivation #BusinessLessons via @rugbypass #innovation

The job market right now is still brutal... If I lost (or decided to leave) my job tomorrow… Here's how I'd think about my time. Been doing this series since last year and it keeps growing because you all keep making it better. Ideas here sourced from the hundreds of comments across the previous posts from people who are actually living this right now. So here's Part 4. Entirely sourced from your suggestions. 1. I'd Take Care of Myself First. Exercise, walks, box breathing, time with family, a hobby that has nothing to do with work. Multiple people said their best ideas and breakthroughs came after stepping away from the screen. firm boundaries around healthy news consumption. Job searching is emotionally grueling. If you don't build in recovery, the rest of the list falls apart. 2. I'd Get Clear on My Values Before I Start Applying. Not just "what jobs are out there" but "what do I actually want?" write down 2-4 non-negotiable values... flexibility, trust, collaboration, whatever yours are... use those as a filter. 3. I'd Handle the Logistics Early. File for unemployment immediately, even if you think you won't qualify. Figure out your insurance situation. Negotiate severance if you can. These aren't glamorous steps but skipping them creates stress that bleeds into everything else. Take a full week to breathe before diving into the search. 4. I'd Volunteer or Join a Board. This came up again and again. Volunteering for a cause you care about, joining an advisory board, doing pro bono work in your sector. It builds community, creates structure, keeps your skills sharp, and puts you in rooms with people who might eventually hire you or refer you. Several people said their best leads came from volunteering, not from applications. 5. I'd Make It Easy for People to Help Me. be specific. What kind of role. What skills you bring. What sectors you're targeting. One commenter framed it as "help others help you". The more concrete you are, the more likely someone thinks of you when they hear about an opening. 6. I'd Build Something While I Search. A personal project. A newsletter. A small collaboration with a former colleague. Something that reminds you your value isn't defined by your employment status. Several people said this was what kept them sane during long searches... and a couple said the side project actually turned into their next thing. 7. I'd Stop Treating the Job Search Like a Full-Time Job. Spending 8+ hours a day applying doesn't work. Be strategic. Maybe 3-4 focused hours on search-related activity and then spend the rest on learning, connecting, volunteering, living your life. Stay strong out there, friends. I know it's still a hard time/ So much of this displacement is macro and political... not personal. You deserve a job. And you deserve support while you look for one. What else would you add? If you're currently in transition, what's one thing that's helped more than you expected? Sharing is CARING.

Remote work isn't broken. The rulebook is: Most companies wrote one set of remote rules and handed it to everyone. But managers and employees need to run it differently: 1. Set core hours ↳Manager: Pick 3-4 hours the whole team is online, then stop scheduling meetings outside that window ↳Employee: Block those hours on your calendar and protect the rest of your day for deep work 2. Overcommunicate context ↳Manager: Explain the why behind a task, not just the what, so no one has to guess ↳Employee: Add a quick note to every update so your manager never has to ask "where are we" 3. Ask before you assume ↳Manager: If a message sits unanswered for an hour, check in before you jump to conclusions ↳Employee: Ask before you guess, it saves both of you a redo 4. Default to written ↳Manager: Put decisions in a doc or channel, not just a call, so nothing gets lost ↳Employee: Recap verbal conversations in writing so there's a record everyone can check 5. Trust the work ↳Manager: Judge output, not hours online, and say that out loud to the team ↳Employee: Share progress often so trust builds without anyone having to ask for it 6. Show up on camera ↳Manager: Make camera use a norm for some meetings ↳Employee: Turn your camera on for priority calls 7. Build in real connection ↳Manager: Schedule time that isn't about work, even 15 minutes, so the team stays a team ↳Employee: Show up to that time, skipping it quietly adds up to feeling cut off 8. Document everything ↳Manager: Keep one source of truth for decisions so new hires can catch up fast ↳Employee: Write down what you did and why before you log off each day 9. Ask for feedback ↳Manager: Check in at least monthly on what's working and what feels isolating ↳Employee: Speak up early if something feels off, don't wait for the review 10. Guard the boundary ↳Manager: Don't message after hours unless it's urgent, model the behavior you want ↳Employee: Set a hard stop time and actually log off when you hit it A rulebook only works if both sides read it the same way.  Most don't. Which of these feels hardest to actually follow, as a manager or as an employee? --- ♻️ Repost to help remote teams work better together. And follow me George Stern for more remote work content.

In 2008, Michael Phelps won Olympic GOLD - completely blind. The moment he dove in, his goggles filled with water. But he kept swimming. Most swimmers would’ve fallen apart. Phelps didn’t - because he had trained for chaos, hundreds of times. His coach, Bob Bowman, would break his goggles, remove clocks, exhaust him deliberately. Why? Because when you train under stress, performance becomes instinct. Psychologists call this stress inoculation. When you expose yourself to small, manageable stress: - Your amygdala (fear centre) becomes less reactive. - Your prefrontal cortex (logic centre) stays calmer under pressure. Phelps had rehearsed swimming blind so often that it felt normal. He knew the stroke count. He hit the wall without seeing it. And won GOLD by 0.01 seconds. The same science is why: - Navy SEALs tie their hands and practice underwater survival. - Astronauts simulate system failures in zero gravity. - Emergency responders train inside burning buildings. And you can build it too. Here’s how: ✅ Expose yourself to small discomforts. Take cold showers. Wake up 30 minutes earlier. Speak up in meetings. The goal is to build confidence that you can handle hard things. ✅ Use quick stress resets. Try cyclic sighing: Inhale deeply through your nose. Take a second small inhale. Exhale slowly through your mouth. Repeat 3-5 times to calm your system fast. ✅ Strengthen emotional endurance. Instead of avoiding difficult conversations, hard tasks, or feedback - lean into them. Facing small emotional challenges trains you for bigger ones later. ✅ Celebrate small victories. Every time you stay calm, adapt, or keep going under pressure - recognise it. These tiny wins are building your mental "muscle memory" for resilience. As a new parent, I know my son Krish will face his own "goggles-filled-with-water" moments someday. So the best I can do is model resilience myself. Because resilience isn’t gifted - it’s trained. And when you train your brain for chaos, you can survive anything. So I hope you do the same. If this made you pause, feel free to repost and share the thought. #healthandwellness #mentalhealth #stress

A 1.5% phishing click rate can still mean your security program is failing. That sounds wrong. But a click from a marketing intern is not the same risk as a click from a DevOps engineer with privileged production access. And attackers are no longer testing employees with obvious emails. They are using AI across voice, SMS, collaboration tools, and deepfakes, while many security programs still rely on annual videos and predictable simulations. The numbers expose the mismatch. A user can click a malicious link in 21s. Credentials can be surrendered in 28s. Your annual training completion rate will not help during that minute. This is why I believe click rate is becoming a vanity metric. Human risk should be measured by what actually changes the outcome: Who was targeted, and what can they access? How quickly was the threat reported? Could the employee recognize it across multiple channels? Did the organization adapt before the same tactic returned? That is the shift Doppel describes in its 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁. From checkbox training to an active defense cycle built around agentic simulations, threat informed training, and dynamic risk modeling. The strongest example is not another fake email. It is testing employees where trust already exists. For example, a company used Doppel to run an AI driven simulation inside Microsoft Teams, including a voice cloned executive persona. That exposed risk traditional training could not see. The goal was never to create employees who never make mistakes. It is to build a workforce that detects, reports, and disrupts attacks before those mistakes become breaches. A low click rate may look good in a board deck. Resilience is what survives contact with the attacker. Is your awareness program measuring compliance, or reducing human risk? #CyberSecurity #HumanRiskManagement #AIRisk

A couple of weeks ago I received a distressing call from an old colleague whose well-funded and well backed employer shutdown overnight. As she shared the news of over 350 stranded employees, it dawned on me that this is the same story across so many organisations & startups. God forbid, that this happens with anyone , here are some insights on what to do in the first few days after suddenly losing your job. Here are 9 essential points to consider: 🔥 TAKE A MOMENT TO ABSORB THE NEWS: It's natural to feel shaken and upset. Allow yourself time to process the situation and acknowledge your emotions before taking action. 🔥 ASSESS YOUR FINANCIAL STANDING: Sit down with your spouse/partner and evaluate your financial situation. Take stock of loans, EMIs, and your inflow of funds. Determine how much liquid savings you have and calculate your runway—knowing how long you can manage without income can alleviate some pressure. 🔥 COMPILE A LIST OF CONTACTS: Create an Excel sheet with the names and details of colleagues, bosses, and professional acquaintances who can provide referrals or job leads. Treat it as you would a sales prospect list—networking is crucial during this period. 🔥 AVOID IMPULSIVE DECISIONS: While the urgency to find a new job may be overwhelming, it's essential not to jump at the first opportunity that comes your way. Exercise patience and wait for the right opportunity that aligns with your goals and aspirations. 🔥 EVALUATE BUSINESS IDEAS: Use this transitional period to work on that business idea you've always wanted to pursue. Evaluate its feasibility and potential, and consider whether entrepreneurship is a path you'd like to explore further. 🔥 FREELANCING OR CONSULTING: While searching for a job, consider freelancing or offering consulting services to generate income in the meantime. Leverage your skills and expertise to provide value to clients and keep the cash flow steady. 🔥 EXPLORE UPSKILLING & ENHANCING YOUR KNOWLEDGE: Take advantage of the downtime to invest in self-improvement. Identify areas for professional development, enroll in online courses, attend webinars, or acquire certifications to bolster your skill set. 🔥 MAINTAIN A ROUTINE: Establish a daily routine that includes job searching, networking, skill-building, and self-care activities. Structure and consistency can help maintain focus and motivation during this challenging period. 🔥 SEEK GUIDANCE: Don't hesitate to seek professional career counseling or guidance from experts in your field. They can offer insights, strategies, and support to navigate the job market effectively. Remember, losing a job can be disheartening, but with the right mindset, resilience, and proactive approach, you can transform this setback into an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Stay positive, keep moving forward, and trust that new doors will open along the way. #SamparkSeSampark #JobLoss #Career #Resilience #startups #business

Why Your Current Cybersecurity Strategy Will Fail in the Next 2 Years Here’s the reality: As we move closer to 2025, traditional cybersecurity strategies will no longer suffice. The evolving threat landscape, coupled with advancements in technology, requires a shift in how we think about security. Here’s why your current strategy may fail in the near future: → AI-Powered Attacks Are on the Rise Cybercriminals are using AI to develop highly sophisticated attacks, from convincing phishing emails to polymorphic malware that evades detection. Traditional defenses that rely on static detection methods can’t keep up with these dynamic threats. It's time to evolve your approach. → Geopolitical Tensions Add Complexity With state-sponsored cyber warfare escalating, your organization needs to be prepared for attacks from well-resourced adversaries targeting critical infrastructure. You can't rely on outdated defense mechanisms when facing nation-state actors. → Your Attack Surface Is Growing The expansion of connected devices and 5G networks is creating new vulnerabilities. If you're adopting new technologies without robust security measures, you're leaving doors open for cybercriminals to exploit. → Complacency Is a Risk Many organizations assume their current security posture is sufficient, which leads to a lack of investment in advanced tools and training. It’s crucial to avoid complacency—cybersecurity is a constantly evolving field that demands proactive action. → Traditional Response Plans Are No Longer Enough Static incident response plans simply can't keep up with today’s fluid cyber threats. You need dynamic, AI-driven systems that adapt in real-time to evolving attack vectors. → Regulatory Pressures Are Increasing With new regulations like NIS2 in Europe and a stronger focus on cyber resilience, organizations must invest in compliance-ready frameworks. This will require both time and resources, but it’s a necessary step to protect your business. The bottom line? Your current cybersecurity strategy likely won’t survive the next two years without significant upgrades. To stay ahead of the curve, invest in advanced technologies, enhance employee training, and develop dynamic, resilient security practices that evolve with emerging threats. Are you ready to future-proof your cybersecurity strategy? Let's talk about how to get started.

Have you ever written a personal Failure Log? It’s a simple but powerful self-improvement technique which builds mental resilience. Setbacks happen in everyone’s career journey. But documenting the decisions and circumstances that lead to failure will let you transform defeats into lessons and strengthen your capacity to bounce back. It’s easy to do too. Here’s how to write a Failure Log: Pick a format (spreadsheet, notebook, or digital journal) and a frequency (weekly is good for reflection). For each entry, answer: - What went wrong? - What did I learn? - How will I change my approach next time?   Use one or two sentences to answer each question. Stay objective. Use a neutral tone (“I didn’t delegate enough tasks”) rather than inflammatory statements (“I’m terrible at managing projects”). Focus on describing events and lessons, rather than beating yourself up. The aim is insight, not self-blame. Review your entries every month or two to spot patterns — maybe you sometimes underestimate timelines or often fail to communicate well enough with stakeholders. Over time, you’ll course-correct with consistent strategies. Celebrating your successes is important, but objectively acknowledging your failures will often yield the most impactful lessons. A Failure Log can be a transformative tool to consistently improve your outcomes. Best of all, over time you’ll develop a more resilient form of confidence — grounded in reality, not wishful thinking. What techniques do you use to learn from your own professional setbacks?