Have you ever come across someone whose decorum is composed amidst the chaos? Their organizational skills, attitude, and outlook seem unscathed. It’s likely that the person you see before you developed those traits over time and has chosen to be resilient regardless of what lies ahead.
Developing resiliency is beneficial for two main reasons:
- Throughout your career and personal life, there will always be turmoil, upheaval, and unwanted change.
- With a resilient mindset, you will be able to persevere and develop the decorum, traits, skills, and patience you admire.
In our Being Resilient During Turbulent Times blog, we will cover the mentality needed to adapt and persevere, such as:
- Assistant strength and skills
- Keeping things in perspective
- Accepting change
- Maintaining a helpful outlook
- Learning from your past
- Proactive resilience
At the end of this blog, there is a helpful video that goes into detail on each of the steps above. If you are ready to better yourself and your career as an assistant, read on.
Assistant Flexibility – Be Like the Palm Tree
Have you ever noticed the beauty that lies within a palm tree? It stands tall in the sky, can bend with the wind… but never breaks. Palm trees benefit from storms. As a result of being beaten down by hurricanes, monsoons, or other types of storms, their trunks grow stronger and they grow taller and more beautiful.
When things get difficult, and you are not sure how to respond, see yourself as a palm tree. Endure the storms and stand strong against the winds of change to grow stronger, taller, and more beautiful after.
How Administrative Professionals Can Adapt and Persevere
A positive mindset is only one part of the equation. The right adaptation skills combined with steadfastness are needed to keep emotions in check and optimism within reach. Here are 5 methods that will get you noticed as an assistant:
1. Keep things in perspective
How you think can play a significant part in how you feel — and how resilient you are when faced with obstacles. Try to identify areas of irrational thinking, such as a tendency to catastrophize difficulties or assume the world is out to get you and adopt a more balanced and realistic thinking pattern.
For instance, if you feel overwhelmed by a challenge, remind yourself that what happened to you isn’t an indicator of how your future will go and that you’re not helpless. You may not be able to change a highly stressful event, but you can change how you interpret and respond to it.
2. Accept change
Accept that change is a part of life. Certain goals or ideals may no longer be attainable as a result of adverse situations in your life. Accepting circumstances that cannot be changed can help you focus on circumstances that you can alter.
3. Maintain a hopeful outlook
It’s hard to be positive when life is not going your way. An optimistic outlook empowers you to expect good things will happen to you. Try visualizing what you want, rather than worrying about what you fear. Along the way, note any subtle ways in which you start to feel better as you deal with difficult situations.
4. Learn from your past
By looking back at who or what was helpful in previous times of distress, you may discover how you can respond effectively to new difficult situations. Remind yourself of where you have been able to find strength and ask yourself what you have learned from those experiences.
5. Proactive Resilience
When all the chaos is over, consider being proactively resilient:
- seek challenges and accept assignments that are out of your comfort zone.
- exercise your resiliency muscle; don’t just wait until there is danger or a challenge or setback.
When uncertainty stresses us out, making us wonder which path to take, what decision to make, or whether to respond at all, it can be crippling for some of us if we have not developed emotional resilience.
Unpredictable situations that dramatically impact the workplace, affect productivity, and communication, will occur. Our Survival Tactics Series for Administrative Professionals During Chaotic Times webinar provides actionable information for building resilience and bouncing back faster after a setback. Through it you will learn how to:
- Take daily workplace changes in stride.
- Use resources effectively especially when faced with a problem.
- Move in tandem with your executive.
- Learn the lessons you need to learn.
- Exhibit nimbleness as you adapt to change.
- Generate innovative solutions to problems.
And much more.
