Resilience is often misunderstood as the ability to simply endure or "tough it out", but that approach can quickly lead to burnout. Instead, resilience is the ability to recover, learn, and adapt - abilities that are key to personal and leadership success. And are at the heart of our inner game development framework. 

The Conscious Leadership Group puts it best: resilience is not about stamina. Stamina implies a continuous push, which can easily tip us into exhaustion. Resilience, on the other hand, is about rebounding - being able to face adversity, reflect, and respond in a way that allows us to grow from the experience.  

Building resilience through the inner game 

The UNSW researchers outlined six strategies for building resilience, and here’s my inner game take on them: 

1. Composure: Harnessing self-awareness
   Composure is about staying grounded, even when the world feels anything but. When you play the inner game, composure starts with self-awareness, and recognising if you’re above or below the line. Paying attention to your emotions, physical reactions and thought patterns, especially when challenges arise, allows you to work with them more skilfully, instead of being hijacked by them.  
2. Own-worth: Reframing your stories to foster self-belief
   Anyone who has a habit of stretching outside their comfort zone will experience setbacks. For most of us, some of those setbacks will dent our confidence. The extent to which that dent leaves a permanent mark, or spirals to more negative and damaging feelings, will depend on our self-worth and ability to work with negative self-talk. That’s why bouncing forward from setbacks requires us to develop self-compassion and reframe the negative stories we tell ourselves. In our programs we use tools like Byron Katie’s The Work to question negative thoughts, and reframe stories of failure or stress into opportunities for growth and resilience building. 
3. Mastery: Focus on your One Big Thing
   Mastery comes from identifying and addressing technical challenges like learning and practicing a new skill or adaptive challenges - those deep-seated issues that, when tackled, create major shifts in how we show up in the world. When we play the inner game, we zero in on adaptive challenges as a tool to unlock new levels of growth that can’t be achieved by practicing technical skills. We call this your one big thing – that one behaviour or way of being you could change which would make the biggest difference in your career or life. Speaking up, delegating more effectively, active listening, challenging authority, being less defensive / more open…these are all examples of adaptive challenges that when mastered, unlock extraordinary shifts in leadership effectiveness and team dynamics, while also breeding the self-belief and confidence that supports resilience. 
4. Positivity: Tap into your Zone of Genius
   Positivity comes from doing more of what you love. In the inner game, we call that your Zone of Genius. Genius work is what you were put on this earth to do. You love this work so much you find yourself loosing track of time, forgetting to eat, deeply absorbed in the moment and in a state of flow and ease. Just identifying your zone of genius is game-changing. Planning to spend at least half of your time in that space is extraordinary and – as it turns out – lifesaving! 
5. Achievement and satisfaction (I’ve combined these two!)
   Resilience is cultivated not only by reaching major milestones but by celebrating the small victories along the way. Our inner game programs focus on self-reflection to help you recognise and celebrate these incremental achievements, with 360-degree feedback to help inform your progress and goals. A continuous process of reflecting and adjusting strengthens resilience and keeps you moving forward. 

Building a lifelong practice of resilience 

Resilience is not a one-off achievement; it’s a lifelong practice. It's about knowing when you’re below the line or at risk of burnout, and how to shift. And for leaders, this isn’t just a personal journey - it’s about creating environments where resilience can thrive. That means encouraging teams to recharge, being open about stress, unhelpful beliefs and behaviours, and modelling resilience by sharing your own experiences of overcoming adversity. 

Ready to strengthen your resilience muscle? 

I’d love to help you and your teams become more resilient and master your inner game. Our programs focus on building trust, personal responsibility, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence – all key ingredients for a resilient, flourishing career and life.

Book a call with me to discuss how we can work together.