Resilience in challenges
Resilience also means making our best use, primarily our energy. The more you run, the more your body learns to make the athletic gesture consuming the least possible quantity.
There's no room for waste. Starting from this premise, it's easy to understand how important it is to focus on the things you can control or at least manage.
Focusing your attention on things on which you don't have the slightest control is a useless waste of energy. This is not only valid in the field of ultrarunning, it is a transversal concept applicable to every single context of our life.
Proactive or reactive?
Stephen Covey, the famous author, argued that there are two spheres in our lives : the sphere of worry and the sphere of influence. The sphere of worry consists of everything we would like to change but have no power over. The sphere of influence, on the other hand, consists of all the areas we can influence. This is a very important concept in terms of resilience, because depending on the sphere in which we invest most of our energy, we can define ourselves as reactive or proactive. We are reactive if we spend most of our time focused on the sphere of worry. We are proactive if we focus most of our attention on the sphere of influence.
Resilience in challenges
Let me give you an example from my world, the world of ultrarunning: during an ultra trail, it's not very productive to worry about the cold or the rain and let this worry negatively impact your performance. It's much better to be proactive and bring technical clothing that can protect you from the elements. There are several ways to improve resilience. In this case, we can say that, to best face challenges, it's important to focus our attention on the sphere of influence and best manage everything we have control over. For everything we can't control, it's a good idea to equip ourselves and prepare ourselves, expecting the worst to happen. This, of course, applies to facing any challenge with resilience: an ultra trail, finding a new job, building a close relationship. It's especially true for the most important challenge: YOURS.
Where do you focus your energies during your challenge?
On the sphere of concern or on the sphere of influence?
Are you a reactive or proactive person?
Download the audiobook “Resilience in Sport & Life” now to learn more.
