The Resilient Worker blog is my passion. There is nothing that makes me happier than delivering my best effort every Monday morning. Yet all the passion, effort, and willpower required to produce the pearls of wisdom cannot overcome a serious case of writer’s block. As I stared out the window, with the night slipping away, a thousand negative thoughts swirled through my head. Most notably, what happens when the author of a blog on resilience has to desperately fight the urge to throw in the towel? The horror! As if prompted by my frantic internal wrangling, my dog Parker awoke from his slumber and groggily made his way over to my desk. He put his head in my lap, softly barked a few words of encouragement and then sat down right by my side. His presence and attention screamed: “Hey, man, you got this thing. And I’ll be with you the whole time until you knock it out”. Good dog! That was all I needed to dive right in! Sometimes desire and hard work are not enough to accomplish our goals. We need encouragement. We need to make a connection. We can’t always do it alone.
In our professional lives, it is tempting to take on a massive work load and do everything ourselves. After all, we know the product better than anyone. We know the material better than anyone. We know the personnel better than anyone. We know the business plan better than anyone. If we don’t take on the bulk of the assignments, it simply won’t get done. That type of work ethic and confidence is commendable. But we must resist the temptation to be a lone wolf. We can be so much more effective and efficient when we work in a team. Collaboration can augment our strengths and smooth out our weaknesses. Leveraging other members of the team sharpens our social skills and heightens the sense of mission. When the entire team has something on the line, it is so much more powerful than just one person. Amazing things can happen when everyone has a stake in the game!
And the same is true in our personal lives. It is okay to have our alone time. Everyone needs some and it is a great opportunity to recharge our batteries and focus on our next accomplishments. But we were not meant to spend our lives in solitude. We have too much talent, too much energy, and too much charisma to keep our emotions and feelings bottled up. Our family and friends are our most important team. Our children need our guidance and support. Our spouse needs our understanding and patience. Our friends need to know we care and will always be there for them. The most gratifying moments in our life are those we can share with the ones we love. We need each other to fulfill our potential and realize our dreams. We need to know that someone else is on our side.
Alone we can do little; together we can do so much. –Helen Keller
But life is not all about sharing incredible moments with the ones we love. There can be moments of frustration and heartbreak and incredible self-doubt. It is during these times that we need to rely on our inner circle the most. When things are not going our way at work, a word of encouragement from a colleague or a nugget of advice from a mentor can immediately set us back on the right track. When we feel like the world is against us, an understanding nod from a friend or a show of solidarity from a family member (including the family dog!) can flip our outlook around. It doesn’t take much. But the little gestures of reassurance from our co-workers, classmates, friends and family can go a long way toward getting us back on a path to success. Resilience cannot be found in a game of solitaire. There are times when we need the guidance of others to inject us with the will to move forward.
Think about the people who have inspired you. Think about the people who have helped you recover. Think about the people who will always be there for you. Don’t you want to do the same for them? Be a positive force for your trusted circle of family and friends. Return that love. Demonstrate how much they mean to you. Go out of your way to let them know how you feel. Just as you need their support, they too need your support. Even the smallest gesture of appreciation can give your loved one the confidence to accomplish his or her goals and dreams. Go make it happen today. Woof!
Until next week, keep smiling.