Having a bad day, week or year? Here are 7 tips to help you bounce back
Your car broke down. You were late for work. Your girlfriend broke up with you. Your small business franchise didn’t work out.
Bad situations happen to us all. Whether we are rich or poor, beautiful or plain, ordinary folk or celebrities, we all have bad periods. Anybody can feel good about life and themselves when they are experiencing success. However, the measure of a person is how they respond when the chips are down. As Martin Luther King Jr wrote:
Resilience is our ability to ‘bounce back’ after encountering problems and is an essential trait. Inevitably, life will throw up some apparently adverse situations, and being able to deal with such circumstances in a positive and creative way is often a measure of how happy and successful we will be.
Studies have shown that resilient people show lower levels of depression and are more likely to ‘grow’ from adversity. Like the saying goes, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’.
If you’ve had a bad day or are having a few consecutive ‘bad days’, try these 7 tips to help you bounce back.
1. Attitude of gratitude. No matter how bad your day is, there are many other people suffering much more than you. Spare a minute to think about the people who don’t have freedom, who live in extreme poverty or people who live in war torn countries. Perhaps your ‘bad day’ is not quite as bad as it first appeared.
2. Focus on building and maintaining relationships. Studies have shown that resilient people tend to have strong social networks – family, friends and colleagues are a great source of support when crises occur.
3. A temporary set-back. Are you a ‘glass half full’ or a ‘glass half empty’ kind of person? Resilient people tend to see stressful events or crises as temporary or even as opportunities to learn and grow, rather than as unbearable, irreversible problems.
4. Take Action. Nothing puts you back on track faster than taking action. It’s easy and tempting to sit back and wallow in self-pity. Unfortunately however, self-pity is a totally useless emotion. Be proactive instead. Take one step, even if it’s small on the road to recovery. By exerting some control over the situation you will begin to regain confidence and belief in your future.
5. A bird’s eye view. When seen from a bird’s eye perspective, problems tend to become less important. Take a long-term view and keep in mind a broader context.
6. Be optimistic. Resilient people maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting positive outcomes.
7. Keep learning. Resilient people are determined to learn useful lessons from setbacks and problems. Looking back, we might realize that we learned the most from what seemed to be the most difficult of circumstances.
As an experienced franchise consultant, we’ve heard dozens of stories of missed and failed franchise opportunities. We know how devastating it can be for business owners, but we also know that it doesn’t have to end there. Businesses and even individuals can be successful in starting a franchise, along with many other goals, if they just put their mind to it.
Resilience is very often the factor which leads some people to overcome immense obstacles to become successful. Look at many well-known, successful and wealthy people with humble or even deprived beginnings and you will see resilience in action. Take steps to develop resilience in your own life – it will serve you well.
