Can You Really Boil Down Building Resilience Into 7 Steps?
The title of this blog post is clearly a rhetorical question with a simple answer. No! Of course you can’t boil down a complex subject like building resilience into 7 steps. However, author and former Navy Seal Brent Gleeson does a heck of a job trying on a Forbes blog he titles 7 Secrets You Need To Know For Building Resilience.
While Gleeson may not totally fulfill the promise of his headline, he still shares many valuable nuggets on resilience that make his article worth reading. His overall premise is that resilience is a product of one’s pain tolerance. Gleeson is a true student of the “pain is weakness leaving the body” school of thought.
His 7 “secrets” to building resilience is best summed up in this quote:
The largest mistake people make is masking their emotions and denying their true suffering. This is counterproductive and can lead to deeper problems in the future. When each emotion comes, feel it.
Yes, there’s more to Gleeson’s Navy Seal approach to resilience than embracing pain. But if you don’t accept this first premise the rest doesn’t matter. I must say I’m a fan of Gleeson after reading this short post of his. I look forward to grabbing a copy of his upcoming book in which he shares his “Pain is the Pathway” mental model. If I find it worth recommending, I’ll be sure to let you know in a future blog post.