A-Z guide to finding work you love - letter R

R stands for 'resilience'.

"If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." Martin Luther King Jr 

It's important to recognise that when you're on a journey to finding work you love, assume you will come across rejection, you will make mistakes and you will be met with all sorts of barriers that can potentially prevent you from reaching your goal. Therefore, resilience is an essential quality to develop.

For example, let's say you come up with a great idea about what you'd like to do in the future. You're really excited about the prospect, you start your research and networking (vital steps) and you find yourself talking to people who might put down your ideas or think you're crazy for even thinking of changing career path. Never mind the people who don't matter - these might be people who are in the industry that you're wanting to break into or they could even be family members. Only resilience will get you through as you continue to pursue your dream.

Perhaps you have been applying for jobs and you haven't got as far as an interview yet. Be resilient. Maybe you have had a few interviews but you've not received a job offer. Be resilient. It's important that you learn from these moments, but then you must pick yourself up, dust yourself down and carry on.

If you look at anyone who you consider to be successful, i.e. people who are doing what they have been called to do, and you look at the journey they have taken to get there, you will see that they have been resilient along the way. It's never a straightforward journey. They will have made mistakes, but they kept going.

Take Abraham Lincoln, who overcame personal tragedy and several political failures before eventually becoming president of the United States. Or Thomas Edison who made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before inventing the first practical light bulb. He was even told by his teachers that he was too stupid to learn anything! Setbacks are often essential in terms of personal growth and development. Although unpleasant, they often bring out the best in us. I have had to overcome my own personal setbacks of losing a job and bereavement in order to get to where I am today. Without it, I may have stayed in the comfort zone of my previous job.

"People are like tea bags; you don't know how strong they are until they're in hot water" Eleanor Roosevelt

How do you develop this resilience?

It's important to have your purpose in mind. If you have an exciting purpose, you can have this in focus when you come up against adversity. This mission or life purpose answers the key question, why am I doing this? Write this down if necessary, because it can be easily forgotten when tough times arrive.

Secondly it's also important to surround yourself with people who are going to support you through this journey. Not people who will simply say what you want them to say, but people who will be honest, yet supportive.

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