September 15, 2025 • 22 mins
Comments, questions? Let's connect!
Ever found yourself battling tech failures, communication breakdowns, and unexpected hurdles all at once? That's exactly what happened during the launch of my Rediscover Your Inner Compass program. But rather than spiraling into stress and self-criticism, I stayed surprisingly level-headed and it got me thinking about how we approach challenges (trust me I would have been in full meltdown mode not so long ago...)
Most of us instinctively try to avoid difficulties. We see them as threats or signs we're failing, which triggers that familiar spiral of self-doubt. The trouble is, challenges don't disappear when we dodge them, they often return with greater intensity until we finally face them head-on. For leaders, this avoidance can be particularly costly, keeping us stuck in reactive mode, constantly extinguishing metaphorical bushfires that drain our energy and hold back our potential.
What if we flip this perspective completely? What if each challenge isn't something to fear but an invitation to change? This shift brings us into our locus of control, focusing on what we can influence rather than what we can't. It enhances our adaptability and strategic thinking, transforming limiting questions like "Why can't we do this?" into empowering ones like "What can we do with what we have?" Most importantly, it builds resilience, our capacity to adapt well in the face of adversity, which research shows is crucial for both personal wellbeing and leadership effectiveness.
Ready to transform how you approach challenges? Then let's dive into the episode.
REFERENCES
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Building your resilience. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience/building-your-resilience
McLeod, S. (2023, August 14). What is the Yerkes–Dodson law? Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-the-yerkes-dodson-law.html
Neill, J. T. (2006). What is locus of control? University of Canberra. https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/What%20is%20Locus%20of%20Control%20by%20James%20Neill.pdf
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Just this week, I've had so many tech things go wrong
for me.
I've had people unable to jointeams meetings because they were
signed in in one organizationand had left another, and then
they couldn't get in on apersonal account or just on
their browser.
I've had emails not goingthrough to people that they've
(00:56):
received emails before from me.
I've had pages that I've had upand running broken, and all of
this was happening in.
This culmination of things thatwere happening at the time of
this recording is the time thatI was building the Rediscover
your Inner Compass program andgetting it ready for launch.
So we just hit launch as ofMonday just gone, and it's been
(01:20):
incredible so far.
So the feedback has been thatpeople were able to feel safe
instantly to connect withlike-minded people to actually
get some stuff done and makesome progress in a very, very
short amount of time.
So I'm so excited on where thiscan go.
But for the meantime, I wantedto highlight this real, real
(01:42):
life problem, because I evenshowed up in the wrong meeting
for the launch session and hadto think to myself oh, I wonder
if everyone else is in adifferent one.
So in the past I would havebeen freaking out, I would have
been stressed to the max.
I would have been spiralingmyself on why didn't I do this,
why didn't I do that?
(02:02):
And instead I was actuallyreally, really proud of myself
for being quite level-headed.
I just simply messaged one ofthe participants that I knew was
there and said hey, can youjust make sure I've got the
right link?
Let's jump on and test this out.
And so there's obviouslylearnings in all of those
scenarios, and sometimes wedon't learn those things until
(02:25):
we're in the thick of it.
So who here hates it when thingsgo wrong?
Maybe you're on your way to aninterview and a train is late
and you're stressing you'regoing.
Why is the train late?
Oh, this is so annoying.
And you're stressing you'regoing.
Why is the train late?
Oh, this is so annoying.
(02:48):
Maybe you have a staff member inyour team and you've told them
on countless occasions to dosomething differently or change
the way they approach something,because it's having a ripple
effect.
It's actually destroying theimage that your team has on the
kind of work that you do and theway that you interact with
people, and yet they keep doingit, even though you've had so
many conversations.
Or maybe you love to givepeople advice and then, time and
(03:11):
time again, people justdisregard your well-thought out
advice, so like advice thatyou've experienced.
This is why you're sharing it,and you're sharing it to avoid
their pain, and they just don'ttake it on and you see them get
hurt again.
Isn't that frustrating?
So if you're like me, so many ofus spend our lives trying to
avoid challenge.
(03:31):
We see it as a threat, assomething to get past or a sign
that we're maybe failing andthat can send us on this
spiraling loop of self-doubt,self-criticism and just
wondering why does this happento us?
And the problem is, when weavoid challenge, it doesn't
(03:53):
actually go away.
It can circle back, coming backtime and time again until we
face it.
Has that happened to you, Likesome people?
Have you heard that saying?
Where people say you know, I'man S magnet, you know why does
this stuff always happen to me?
And for leaders, avoiding thesechallenges can be really, really
(04:17):
costly.
It keeps us in that reactivespace where we're constantly
having to put out the bushfires,which drains our energy.
It keeps us up at night andleaves us stuck in patterns that
hold back our potential.
So here's the thing that I'vediscovered time and time again.
(04:37):
Is that challenge is aninvitation to change?
I've seen it time and timeagain.
Is that challenge is aninvitation to change?
I've seen it time and timeagain in the leaders that I
coach and develop that are stuck, frustrated, wondering why they
can't get the results thatthey're looking for or why they
can't shift the behavior thatthey're looking for.
(04:58):
So often, when we look at tryingto fix everything outside of us
, we forget the most importantpart, the most critical place
that we can make the most impact, which is ourselves.
And I get it, it's daunting tolook at ourselves.
But what if the challenge thateveryone is facing isn't
something to fear, but it'sactually an invitation to change
(05:20):
?
Everyone is facing isn'tsomething to fear, but it's
actually an invitation to change.
Every challenge we encounter isa chance to learn, to grow and
to build our resilience.
So if we stop looking at it asa punishment or something to
dread and instead look at itfrom a perspective of learning,
(05:43):
we can create leaders in theworld who are going to thrive,
lean into challenge and almostbecome challenge hunters.
And why this is so important is, firstly, when it flips on its
head, it brings you into yourlocus of control.
So the concept, psychologyconcept of locus of control
dates back to 1966 from researchdone by Julian B Rotter, and
(06:10):
it's all about this ability tofocus on what you can change
rather than worrying abouteverything outside of you,
Because everything outside ofyou will continue to happen and
show up, but what matters is howwe react and respond to that.
So when we focus on what we cando, we're much more empowered
(06:33):
to actually do something with it.
So when we see challenge as aninvitation to change, we also
become more adaptable.
Have you seen the show AmazingRace?
So it's on currently at thetime of recording in Australia
and it's this race where pairs,teams of pairs, race around the
(06:56):
world doing all sorts of crazychallenges.
There you go.
There's the word challenges,right, but one of the challenges
that I often I'm not doing thaton purpose, it's just stuck in
my head.
Now One of the challenges Ioften people see in this show is
people driving.
So they'll be driving.
There's one image in my head ofthis couple getting into a car
(07:18):
and going I can't drive, stickshift and sorry, that was a
really bad American accent, butit wasn't the American version.
I was watching at the time andthey were freaking out because
they couldn't drive a manualvehicle with the gear stick on
the steering wheel and I thought, geez, I can't do that.
But if I'm going to go on thisshow, I'm going to make sure I
(07:38):
can Make sure I can drive amanual car, an auto car, one
with the gears on the steeringwheel, so that this is not a
problem for me.
Now the second thing that we canlook at when we see challenge
as an invitation to change is ithelps us to be more strategic
in our thinking.
We avoid getting stuck indealing with all the bushfires
(08:02):
and we can zoom out and step onthe balcony and look at the
whole system and thinkdifferently.
So, for an example, one of theorganizations I've worked with
in the past has had a culture ofwe can't do it because there's
not enough money, and I'm surethat's not isolated to them.
I'm sure, especially in thisday and age, even in people's
(08:23):
personal lives, people aresaying I can't do it because
there's not enough money.
Now what if you flip this andsaid instead well, what can we
do with what we have?
So suddenly you go fromlimiting your thought process to
this scarcity mindset andflipping it to a growth mindset
(08:45):
of what is actually possible,and it's a fundamental thing
that we do as coaches is to helppeople to see where they're
stuck and see where they'relooking at the walls around them
, going I can't get out of hereand actually say, hey, have you
looked over there?
There's actually a door.
It just doesn't have a veryobvious door handle, but it is
there.
There is a way forward, so it'sgoing.
(09:07):
It's this flip from going fromproblem to solution or from
autopilot to awareness.
And if you haven't listened tothe episode on going from
autopilot to awareness, go backand listen to episode 20 20,
because all of this is buildingon each other.
All of these tools that I'msharing you can use on top of
(09:27):
one another to really maximizethe impact you're trying to have
Now.
The third reason why goingseeing challenge as an
invitation to change is reallyimportant is because it builds
our own resilience.
Like who wants to be reallyfrustrated, stressed and angry
all the time.
(09:48):
The scary thing is, a lot ofpeople are experiencing that,
especially at work, but what weoften don't realize is we have a
significant amount of controlover how much those feelings
show up for us and how much theytake over.
So, in 2012, the AmericanPsychological Society of America
(10:13):
got together a group ofpsychologists and talked about
the topic of resilience.
And talked about the topic ofresilience and they defined
resilience as the process ofadapting well in the face of
adversity, trauma, tragedy,threats or significant sources
of stress.
Now, all of those things I'veseen can appear and do appear in
(10:37):
the workplace to differingextents, can appear and do
appear in the workplace todiffering extents.
And now, if we look intochildhood research as well and
how we build emotionalcapability in children, we know
that allowing them to overcomesmall adversities helps with
bigger ones.
So, allowing someone to justtoday, my toddler having a
(10:59):
meltdown about not being able toget in one door of the car
instead of the other one, whichactually would have been much
easier.
But having that meltdown andbeing able to process that
disappointment is importantbecause then, when you get the
bigger disappointment of Ididn't get the job that I it was
a dream job for me you alreadyhave the tools and the practice
(11:21):
of how to do it in a much safersituation.
So seeing challenge as aninvitation to change is so, so
key for resilience.
It's also the crux of learningthat learning mindset in a
leader, and if you're notsomeone who loves learning, I'm
(11:43):
going to challenge you to leaninto that, because, now more
than ever, if you're notlearning as a leader, you're
going to be left behind.
And I believe it's the same foreveryone that learning is
becoming more and more importantbecause these machines are
learning faster than our humansare capable of learning.
So the more that we can learn,the more that we can use all of
(12:05):
these changes to our advantagethe change in AI, in technology,
all of the stuff happeningaround the globe at the moment.
I mean, I stumbled upon what Ithought was a shocking quote
because I hadn't even thoughtabout it, but in 2021, Forrester
(12:28):
did some research and theypredicted that Gen Z and
millennials will be 74% of theglobal workforce by the year
2030.
So 74% so that's the majorityby far, and I don't know why I
found this so shocking.
But in my mind, I always thinkthere's that predominant bias
towards Gen Z, you know, notwanting to work in the
traditional ways that otherpeople have been born and raised
(12:52):
in the systems that we'vecreated.
And so, as a leader, even if Ijust take that one example if
you're not deeply in tune withwhat that generation
predominantly wants, whatmotivates them at work, what
drives their performance, whatdrives their choice to stay in
an organization?
Again, you're going to be leftbehind.
So challenge is really aninvitation to change.
(13:18):
Back in 1908, researchers fromHarvard University, Yerkes and
Dodson, founded a concept calledcalled optimal level of
adversity, and what that meansis they realize that when you
have a low level of challenge oradversity in your life, things
(13:41):
can get boring and you actuallycan start to slack off.
You can lose your edge.
So if you think about so, Ilove to run, as some of you know
, and when I haven't run in awhile I'm definitely slower.
I'm slower.
My muscles get more sore easily.
That first getting up off thecouch is harder because I'm out
of practice.
(14:01):
But when I'm in my peak stateand I'm training regularly, that
step out the door is somethingI look forward to, because I
know how great I'll feel.
I know that I'm building on mymuscle in a really consistent
way.
So the soreness is not as badas that first time when you step
off the couch and you've had along break.
And so if you go too fartherand you train too hard, then we
(14:25):
actually activate the stressresponse in our body and then
our brains can start to shutdown, our bodies can start to
feel the impacts of that Samething.
With running, there was aperiod when I trained too hard
and I got injury after injuryafter injury.
For about 12 months I had somelevel of injury most of the time
.
So there's a point where toomuch adversity or too much
(14:50):
challenge is not good for us.
So the invitation here is tolean in to the challenges,
especially those small ones, andas you do that, your resilience
towards challenge grows.
Your ability to navigate changegrows.
(15:14):
Many years ago now, I had abirthday and I wanted to go to
Bounce.
So if you don't know whatBounce is, it is a company that
runs this massive warehouse ofbasically trampolines and
trampoline related activities sothink a gladiator bar where you
, you know, tackle each otherand fall off into a foam pit A
(15:36):
whole almost like a footballfield pitch of different
trampolines that go up off thewall, and they often have in
these centres, up the back, arock climbing part.
So it was my birthday and Iwanted to climb this beautiful
pink.
It was my birthday and I wantedto climb this beautiful pink
activity, which was basically aseries of those big conduit
(15:59):
pipes that you often see in acar park that's holding probably
water and all sorts of otherthings put vertically and up in
a sending spiral.
So each one had a cap on thetop and it was basically a
spiral staircase painted brightpink, and so it just drew my
attention right from the frontof the whole warehouse.
So I was like I want to climbthat.
(16:20):
So I got in the harness, startedclimbing up and went yeah, this
is easy, this is so fun.
And I got halfway and startedto realize how high I was.
So it's probably a couple ofstories high the building and
this goes almost.
It felt like it went almost tothe ceiling.
But I was starting to slow downand I stopped for a minute and
(16:42):
the staff member who by thispoint I was so high up that she
looked a little was standingdown the bottom, going, you can
do it.
I'm like, okay, cool, yeah, Ican do it.
So I've taken a step up andI've continued and then I've
stopped again.
I've stopped at the second laststep and by this point the pole
(17:02):
was so thin and tall that itwas shaking and I was holding on
to the next step for dear life,even though I had a harness on.
But when you look up at theharness on the ceiling, you see
the little mechanism that holdsyou and you think, oh, when's
the last time they checked thescrews on that?
Is this actually going to catchme if I fall?
And the reason I couldn't steponto the next one because once I
(17:24):
step onto the next one, Ibasically was stepping onto
something the size of a dinnerplate and there was nothing else
to hold onto at that point,Like I'd just be fre standing
and I didn't feel stable enoughto be able to stand there
without falling.
And so the staff member downthe bottom good on her, she was
cheering me.
She's like you can do it.
You can do it, Come on, just doit, Just take a step.
(17:46):
And I looked down and wentthat's not working anymore.
And what I realized was that Icould stay here, stuck, scared,
playing it safe, because rightnow I know I can climb back down
and still get to the groundsafely, or I can just pause, not
let the fear take over andtrust that I'll actually be okay
(18:09):
.
There's a number of reasons whyI'll be okay.
One I've got a harness on.
Two they'll be in some serioustrouble if that harness is not
going to work.
And three, this is like kidscome here Like if a kid can do
it, I can do it right.
So I just had to trust.
And the thing that got meacross the line was if I go home
(18:29):
and don't do this, how am Igoing to feel?
I'm going to feel so ashamed,I'm going to feel like I can't
believe.
You backed out right at thesecond last step, and that's
something I've done in my lifeover and over again.
I remember at university I gotto the last semester in my
four-year degree and went Idon't want to do this anymore,
and I almost backed out.
(18:50):
But in this instance, I tookthe step and then seconds later,
I went up this is too high andjust closed my eyes and fell off
backwards and then, just as thestaff member promised it,
caught my weight and slowlybrought me to the ground.
So challenge is an invitationto change.
(19:12):
And how do we go about this?
So some key steps that you cantake to lean into.
Challenge is firstly, to notice,like notice, when you do get
frustrated.
When are you getting angry?
When are you getting stressed?
They might be little things tostart with, or they might be
really big ones going on for youright now.
But noticing that and goingokay, this is a challenge in my
(19:33):
life, right, what do I do withit?
The second thing you can thendo is go.
Is there a pattern?
Does this same type ofchallenge happen to me again and
again and again?
So, for example, I have in thepast, seen certain people in my
life go to a restaurant and getreally frustrated with the
(19:55):
waitstaff because there'ssomething wrong with a meal, and
this pattern happens again andagain and again.
They're like why is the serviceso bad?
Everywhere I go, and if youcontinue to put the blame of
that outside of you, you loseyour ability to influence in a
situation.
Now, that's a really basicexample, but it's the same in
(20:17):
leadership.
So what's the pattern?
Where you're getting frustrated, angry, stressed or other
insert other emotion that youdon't really like, what's the
pattern?
What does it mean?
And sometimes you can do thatalone, and sometimes you need
help, and that's why I lovebeing a coach, because I get to
partake in this journey withpeople, and it's so, so cool
when I see them make the shiftat the end and they go wow, I
(20:41):
didn't even realize how much ofa problem that was for me and
how much it was holding me back.
And two, I didn't realize thatwe could shift it.
So it's something I love doingit.
So it's something I love doing.
And so the third thing, once younotice that pattern, is that
you ask why am I being invitedto change right now?
Why am I being invited tochange right now?
(21:04):
And when you can ask yourselfthat question, it instantly
flips you into that learningmindset.
So I trust that that was useful, because it is such a powerful
thing.
When you see challenge is aninvitation to change, it
completely changes the way youlook at all of the events that
are occurring in your lifebeyond leading in the workplace
(21:28):
or leading in your business.
It's something that you can useeverywhere, which is the case
with a lot of the things that Ido.
So here's to you leaning intothe challenge.
No-transcript.
Just this week, I've had so many tech things go wrong
for me.
I've had people unable to jointeams meetings because they were
signed in in one organizationand had left another, and then
they couldn't get in on apersonal account or just on
their browser.
I've had emails not goingthrough to people that they've
(00:56):
received emails before from me.
I've had pages that I've had upand running broken, and all of
this was happening in.
This culmination of things thatwere happening at the time of
this recording is the time thatI was building the Rediscover
your Inner Compass program andgetting it ready for launch.
So we just hit launch as ofMonday just gone, and it's been
(01:20):
incredible so far.
So the feedback has been thatpeople were able to feel safe
instantly to connect withlike-minded people to actually
get some stuff done and makesome progress in a very, very
short amount of time.
So I'm so excited on where thiscan go.
But for the meantime, I wantedto highlight this real, real
(01:42):
life problem, because I evenshowed up in the wrong meeting
for the launch session and hadto think to myself oh, I wonder
if everyone else is in adifferent one.
So in the past I would havebeen freaking out, I would have
been stressed to the max.
I would have been spiralingmyself on why didn't I do this,
why didn't I do that?
(02:02):
And instead I was actuallyreally, really proud of myself
for being quite level-headed.
I just simply messaged one ofthe participants that I knew was
there and said hey, can youjust make sure I've got the
right link?
Let's jump on and test this out.
And so there's obviouslylearnings in all of those
scenarios, and sometimes wedon't learn those things until
(02:25):
we're in the thick of it.
So who here hates it when thingsgo wrong?
Maybe you're on your way to aninterview and a train is late
and you're stressing you'regoing.
Why is the train late?
Oh, this is so annoying.
And you're stressing you'regoing.
Why is the train late?
Oh, this is so annoying.
(02:48):
Maybe you have a staff member inyour team and you've told them
on countless occasions to dosomething differently or change
the way they approach something,because it's having a ripple
effect.
It's actually destroying theimage that your team has on the
kind of work that you do and theway that you interact with
people, and yet they keep doingit, even though you've had so
many conversations.
Or maybe you love to givepeople advice and then, time and
(03:11):
time again, people justdisregard your well-thought out
advice, so like advice thatyou've experienced.
This is why you're sharing it,and you're sharing it to avoid
their pain, and they just don'ttake it on and you see them get
hurt again.
Isn't that frustrating?
So if you're like me, so many ofus spend our lives trying to
avoid challenge.
(03:31):
We see it as a threat, assomething to get past or a sign
that we're maybe failing andthat can send us on this
spiraling loop of self-doubt,self-criticism and just
wondering why does this happento us?
And the problem is, when weavoid challenge, it doesn't
(03:53):
actually go away.
It can circle back, coming backtime and time again until we
face it.
Has that happened to you, Likesome people?
Have you heard that saying?
Where people say you know, I'man S magnet, you know why does
this stuff always happen to me?
And for leaders, avoiding thesechallenges can be really, really
(04:17):
costly.
It keeps us in that reactivespace where we're constantly
having to put out the bushfires,which drains our energy.
It keeps us up at night andleaves us stuck in patterns that
hold back our potential.
So here's the thing that I'vediscovered time and time again.
(04:37):
Is that challenge is aninvitation to change?
I've seen it time and timeagain.
Is that challenge is aninvitation to change?
I've seen it time and timeagain in the leaders that I
coach and develop that are stuck, frustrated, wondering why they
can't get the results thatthey're looking for or why they
can't shift the behavior thatthey're looking for.
(04:58):
So often, when we look at tryingto fix everything outside of us
, we forget the most importantpart, the most critical place
that we can make the most impact, which is ourselves.
And I get it, it's daunting tolook at ourselves.
But what if the challenge thateveryone is facing isn't
something to fear, but it'sactually an invitation to change
(05:20):
?
Everyone is facing isn'tsomething to fear, but it's
actually an invitation to change.
Every challenge we encounter isa chance to learn, to grow and
to build our resilience.
So if we stop looking at it asa punishment or something to
dread and instead look at itfrom a perspective of learning,
(05:43):
we can create leaders in theworld who are going to thrive,
lean into challenge and almostbecome challenge hunters.
And why this is so important is, firstly, when it flips on its
head, it brings you into yourlocus of control.
So the concept, psychologyconcept of locus of control
dates back to 1966 from researchdone by Julian B Rotter, and
(06:10):
it's all about this ability tofocus on what you can change
rather than worrying abouteverything outside of you,
Because everything outside ofyou will continue to happen and
show up, but what matters is howwe react and respond to that.
So when we focus on what we cando, we're much more empowered
(06:33):
to actually do something with it.
So when we see challenge as aninvitation to change, we also
become more adaptable.
Have you seen the show AmazingRace?
So it's on currently at thetime of recording in Australia
and it's this race where pairs,teams of pairs, race around the
(06:56):
world doing all sorts of crazychallenges.
There you go.
There's the word challenges,right, but one of the challenges
that I often I'm not doing thaton purpose, it's just stuck in
my head.
Now One of the challenges Ioften people see in this show is
people driving.
So they'll be driving.
There's one image in my head ofthis couple getting into a car
(07:18):
and going I can't drive, stickshift and sorry, that was a
really bad American accent, butit wasn't the American version.
I was watching at the time andthey were freaking out because
they couldn't drive a manualvehicle with the gear stick on
the steering wheel and I thought, geez, I can't do that.
But if I'm going to go on thisshow, I'm going to make sure I
(07:38):
can Make sure I can drive amanual car, an auto car, one
with the gears on the steeringwheel, so that this is not a
problem for me.
Now the second thing that we canlook at when we see challenge
as an invitation to change is ithelps us to be more strategic
in our thinking.
We avoid getting stuck indealing with all the bushfires
(08:02):
and we can zoom out and step onthe balcony and look at the
whole system and thinkdifferently.
So, for an example, one of theorganizations I've worked with
in the past has had a culture ofwe can't do it because there's
not enough money, and I'm surethat's not isolated to them.
I'm sure, especially in thisday and age, even in people's
(08:23):
personal lives, people aresaying I can't do it because
there's not enough money.
Now what if you flip this andsaid instead well, what can we
do with what we have?
So suddenly you go fromlimiting your thought process to
this scarcity mindset andflipping it to a growth mindset
(08:45):
of what is actually possible,and it's a fundamental thing
that we do as coaches is to helppeople to see where they're
stuck and see where they'relooking at the walls around them
, going I can't get out of hereand actually say, hey, have you
looked over there?
There's actually a door.
It just doesn't have a veryobvious door handle, but it is
there.
There is a way forward, so it'sgoing.
(09:07):
It's this flip from going fromproblem to solution or from
autopilot to awareness.
And if you haven't listened tothe episode on going from
autopilot to awareness, go backand listen to episode 20 20,
because all of this is buildingon each other.
All of these tools that I'msharing you can use on top of
(09:27):
one another to really maximizethe impact you're trying to have
Now.
The third reason why goingseeing challenge as an
invitation to change is reallyimportant is because it builds
our own resilience.
Like who wants to be reallyfrustrated, stressed and angry
all the time.
(09:48):
The scary thing is, a lot ofpeople are experiencing that,
especially at work, but what weoften don't realize is we have a
significant amount of controlover how much those feelings
show up for us and how much theytake over.
So, in 2012, the AmericanPsychological Society of America
(10:13):
got together a group ofpsychologists and talked about
the topic of resilience.
And talked about the topic ofresilience and they defined
resilience as the process ofadapting well in the face of
adversity, trauma, tragedy,threats or significant sources
of stress.
Now, all of those things I'veseen can appear and do appear in
(10:37):
the workplace to differingextents, can appear and do
appear in the workplace todiffering extents.
And now, if we look intochildhood research as well and
how we build emotionalcapability in children, we know
that allowing them to overcomesmall adversities helps with
bigger ones.
So, allowing someone to justtoday, my toddler having a
(10:59):
meltdown about not being able toget in one door of the car
instead of the other one, whichactually would have been much
easier.
But having that meltdown andbeing able to process that
disappointment is importantbecause then, when you get the
bigger disappointment of Ididn't get the job that I it was
a dream job for me you alreadyhave the tools and the practice
(11:21):
of how to do it in a much safersituation.
So seeing challenge as aninvitation to change is so, so
key for resilience.
It's also the crux of learningthat learning mindset in a
leader, and if you're notsomeone who loves learning, I'm
(11:43):
going to challenge you to leaninto that, because, now more
than ever, if you're notlearning as a leader, you're
going to be left behind.
And I believe it's the same foreveryone that learning is
becoming more and more importantbecause these machines are
learning faster than our humansare capable of learning.
So the more that we can learn,the more that we can use all of
(12:05):
these changes to our advantagethe change in AI, in technology,
all of the stuff happeningaround the globe at the moment.
I mean, I stumbled upon what Ithought was a shocking quote
because I hadn't even thoughtabout it, but in 2021, Forrester
(12:28):
did some research and theypredicted that Gen Z and
millennials will be 74% of theglobal workforce by the year
2030.
So 74% so that's the majorityby far, and I don't know why I
found this so shocking.
But in my mind, I always thinkthere's that predominant bias
towards Gen Z, you know, notwanting to work in the
traditional ways that otherpeople have been born and raised
(12:52):
in the systems that we'vecreated.
And so, as a leader, even if Ijust take that one example if
you're not deeply in tune withwhat that generation
predominantly wants, whatmotivates them at work, what
drives their performance, whatdrives their choice to stay in
an organization?
Again, you're going to be leftbehind.
So challenge is really aninvitation to change.
(13:18):
Back in 1908, researchers fromHarvard University, Yerkes and
Dodson, founded a concept calledcalled optimal level of
adversity, and what that meansis they realize that when you
have a low level of challenge oradversity in your life, things
(13:41):
can get boring and you actuallycan start to slack off.
You can lose your edge.
So if you think about so, Ilove to run, as some of you know
, and when I haven't run in awhile I'm definitely slower.
I'm slower.
My muscles get more sore easily.
That first getting up off thecouch is harder because I'm out
of practice.
(14:01):
But when I'm in my peak stateand I'm training regularly, that
step out the door is somethingI look forward to, because I
know how great I'll feel.
I know that I'm building on mymuscle in a really consistent
way.
So the soreness is not as badas that first time when you step
off the couch and you've had along break.
And so if you go too fartherand you train too hard, then we
(14:25):
actually activate the stressresponse in our body and then
our brains can start to shutdown, our bodies can start to
feel the impacts of that Samething.
With running, there was aperiod when I trained too hard
and I got injury after injuryafter injury.
For about 12 months I had somelevel of injury most of the time
.
So there's a point where toomuch adversity or too much
(14:50):
challenge is not good for us.
So the invitation here is tolean in to the challenges,
especially those small ones, andas you do that, your resilience
towards challenge grows.
Your ability to navigate changegrows.
(15:14):
Many years ago now, I had abirthday and I wanted to go to
Bounce.
So if you don't know whatBounce is, it is a company that
runs this massive warehouse ofbasically trampolines and
trampoline related activities sothink a gladiator bar where you
, you know, tackle each otherand fall off into a foam pit A
(15:36):
whole almost like a footballfield pitch of different
trampolines that go up off thewall, and they often have in
these centres, up the back, arock climbing part.
So it was my birthday and Iwanted to climb this beautiful
pink.
It was my birthday and I wantedto climb this beautiful pink
activity, which was basically aseries of those big conduit
(15:59):
pipes that you often see in acar park that's holding probably
water and all sorts of otherthings put vertically and up in
a sending spiral.
So each one had a cap on thetop and it was basically a
spiral staircase painted brightpink, and so it just drew my
attention right from the frontof the whole warehouse.
So I was like I want to climbthat.
(16:20):
So I got in the harness, startedclimbing up and went yeah, this
is easy, this is so fun.
And I got halfway and startedto realize how high I was.
So it's probably a couple ofstories high the building and
this goes almost.
It felt like it went almost tothe ceiling.
But I was starting to slow downand I stopped for a minute and
(16:42):
the staff member who by thispoint I was so high up that she
looked a little was standingdown the bottom, going, you can
do it.
I'm like, okay, cool, yeah, Ican do it.
So I've taken a step up andI've continued and then I've
stopped again.
I've stopped at the second laststep and by this point the pole
(17:02):
was so thin and tall that itwas shaking and I was holding on
to the next step for dear life,even though I had a harness on.
But when you look up at theharness on the ceiling, you see
the little mechanism that holdsyou and you think, oh, when's
the last time they checked thescrews on that?
Is this actually going to catchme if I fall?
And the reason I couldn't steponto the next one because once I
(17:24):
step onto the next one, Ibasically was stepping onto
something the size of a dinnerplate and there was nothing else
to hold onto at that point,Like I'd just be fre standing
and I didn't feel stable enoughto be able to stand there
without falling.
And so the staff member downthe bottom good on her, she was
cheering me.
She's like you can do it.
You can do it, Come on, just doit, Just take a step.
(17:46):
And I looked down and wentthat's not working anymore.
And what I realized was that Icould stay here, stuck, scared,
playing it safe, because rightnow I know I can climb back down
and still get to the groundsafely, or I can just pause, not
let the fear take over andtrust that I'll actually be okay
(18:09):
.
There's a number of reasons whyI'll be okay.
One I've got a harness on.
Two they'll be in some serioustrouble if that harness is not
going to work.
And three, this is like kidscome here Like if a kid can do
it, I can do it right.
So I just had to trust.
And the thing that got meacross the line was if I go home
(18:29):
and don't do this, how am Igoing to feel?
I'm going to feel so ashamed,I'm going to feel like I can't
believe.
You backed out right at thesecond last step, and that's
something I've done in my lifeover and over again.
I remember at university I gotto the last semester in my
four-year degree and went Idon't want to do this anymore,
and I almost backed out.
(18:50):
But in this instance, I tookthe step and then seconds later,
I went up this is too high andjust closed my eyes and fell off
backwards and then, just as thestaff member promised it,
caught my weight and slowlybrought me to the ground.
So challenge is an invitationto change.
(19:12):
And how do we go about this?
So some key steps that you cantake to lean into.
Challenge is firstly, to notice,like notice, when you do get
frustrated.
When are you getting angry?
When are you getting stressed?
They might be little things tostart with, or they might be
really big ones going on for youright now.
But noticing that and goingokay, this is a challenge in my
(19:33):
life, right, what do I do withit?
The second thing you can thendo is go.
Is there a pattern?
Does this same type ofchallenge happen to me again and
again and again?
So, for example, I have in thepast, seen certain people in my
life go to a restaurant and getreally frustrated with the
(19:55):
waitstaff because there'ssomething wrong with a meal, and
this pattern happens again andagain and again.
They're like why is the serviceso bad?
Everywhere I go, and if youcontinue to put the blame of
that outside of you, you loseyour ability to influence in a
situation.
Now, that's a really basicexample, but it's the same in
(20:17):
leadership.
So what's the pattern?
Where you're getting frustrated, angry, stressed or other
insert other emotion that youdon't really like, what's the
pattern?
What does it mean?
And sometimes you can do thatalone, and sometimes you need
help, and that's why I lovebeing a coach, because I get to
partake in this journey withpeople, and it's so, so cool
when I see them make the shiftat the end and they go wow, I
(20:41):
didn't even realize how much ofa problem that was for me and
how much it was holding me back.
And two, I didn't realize thatwe could shift it.
So it's something I love doingit.
So it's something I love doing.
And so the third thing, once younotice that pattern, is that
you ask why am I being invitedto change right now?
Why am I being invited tochange right now?
(21:04):
And when you can ask yourselfthat question, it instantly
flips you into that learningmindset.
So I trust that that was useful, because it is such a powerful
thing.
When you see challenge is aninvitation to change, it
completely changes the way youlook at all of the events that
are occurring in your lifebeyond leading in the workplace
(21:28):
or leading in your business.
It's something that you can useeverywhere, which is the case
with a lot of the things that Ido.
So here's to you leaning intothe challenge.
No-transcript.
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