Building on our last episode, when we looked at how organisations can misinterpret resilience at work, this time we look at how individuals can expand their perspective on resilience.

There are so many misconceptions when it comes to resilience. That it's just about keeping going, persistence, bouncing back. When over-simplified like this, it can lead to disappointment, unhelpful behavioural responses and interpersonal difficulties.

Instead. we can benefit from viewing resilience as something inherently flexible, a way of responding to dificculty that is based on our context, and one that allows us to pause or even give up completely - if that's what's helpful.

Let us know what you think about resilience and how you maintain a helpful focus on your own resilience. Email your thoughts to 'podcast at worklifepsych dot com' or join WorkLifeSpark and join the conversation there!

Thanks for listening!

Resources for this episode

Ep 204: Resilience: it's not the answer to everything - https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/204/

Ep 198: Self-care for leaders (and everyone else!) - https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/198/

Ep 199: Coping for leaders - https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/199/

Resilience - when all you have is a hammer: https://www.worklifepsych.com/resilience-when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer/

The topic of the month over on WorkLifeSpark, our online personal development community, is resilience. So for the next couple of episodes, we're going to take a look at this concept. In particular, why it's not the panacea or answer to all organisational problems.

In this first episode, we look at resilience from the organisational perspective, and how it often gets over-emphasised and how. If "you need to be resilient to work here" is the pervading message, what does this do to employee behaviour, performance and wellbeing? What message does it send out to prospective employees? And what behaviours will be accepted in the name of 'resilience'?

In the next episode, we'll look at the employee perspective and explain why often, resilience just isn't enough.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for this episode

• Self-care: what is it and why does it matter? https://www.worklifepsych.com/self-care-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter/
• Resilience: when all you have is a hammer https://www.worklifepsych.com/resilience-when-all-you-have-is-a-hammer/
• Resilience: prevention is better than cure https://www.worklifepsych.com/resilience-prevention-is-better-than-cure/
• Ep 043: You don't have to be resilient to work here - but it helps! https://www.worklifepsych.com/podcast/ep-043-you-dont-have-to-be-resilient-to-work-here-but-it-helps/
• Our working definition of resilience comes from Michael Neenan's book, which you can find here: https://www.routledge.com/Developing-Resilience-A-Cognitive-Behavioural-Approach/Neenan/p/book/9780415792912

Don't forget, you can continue the conversation on WorkLifeSpark and join for free today: https://www.worklifespark.com/sign-up

In this episode, I take a few minutes to remind us all that we can make a fresh start on any day of the year. There's nothing particularly magical about January 1st!

So if your attempts at change since New Year's Day haven't been fruitful, it's never too late to try again. But rather than simply repeating the same unhelpful or overly-demanding approach again and again, I have some recommendations for how you can Reflect, Recalibrate and be Realistic about your planned changes and then leverage the 'fresh start' effect.

"Fresh starts increase your motivation to change because they give you either a real clean slate or the impression of one..." - 'How to Change' by Katy Milkman

I also explore some other simple behaviour change principles you can put into practice to make your attempts at change more likely to stick.

And remember: there's no law that says you have to make personal changes in January - or at all. Don't feel pressurised to jump on the change bandwagon if things are going well or if this time of year just doesn't work for you.

Thanks for listening!

Resources for this episode

• 'How to change' by Katy Milkman - https://www.katymilkman.com/book
• You can sign up for our online personal development community WorkLifeSpark here: https://www.worklifespark.com/sign-up