Blog — Clear Career

Football. Food. Laughs. Disbelief. Utter Disbelief.

Maybe you partook in one of the above items a few weeks ago during the Super Bowl, and maybe you enjoyed it; or maybe you didn’t. Either way, it was a fantastic game, and a beautiful display of emotional resiliency. For those who didn’t watch the game, this is scorecard:

Super Bowl

Ultimately, the New England Patriots - headed by Tom Brady (Quarterback) - led a comeback in the 2nd half to force overtime, eventually winning in that overtime. This blog post however isn’t meant to talk about football, it’s designed to highlight the specific nature of emotionally resilient people, and what we can learn from this specific game.

5 Traits of Emotionally Resilient People

#1 Have perspective:

During the game, Tom Brady and the Patriots needed to keep a positive perspective, likely battling internal thoughts about losing (feeling ashamed, embarrassed, etc.). However, they hadn’t lost, at least not yet, and they chose to see that. By keeping this perspective, the Patriots were able to overcome the doubt of a negative start.

The lesson: Positive perspective allows us to learn from our mistakes instead and move forward accordingly; positively.

#2 Depend on a team:

Many people have been quoted saying that football is the ultimate team sport, and in many ways it’s true. Guess what? Tom Brady didn’t win the Super Bowl by himself. He was surrounded by coaches, players, and family members that all - have and will - play a part in his success.

The lesson: Resilient individuals realize they don’t have to wonder alone, and they become intentional about surrounding themselves with the ‘right’ people.

#3 Be honest:

At halftime of the Super Bowl they was no celebrating in the Patriots locker room. They were down, mad, and embarrassed. They also were aware and willing to see the truth. Honesty and self awareness allows us to assess, critique, and progress.

The lesson: You can’t fool yourself, so don’t try. Accept the truth, assess it within appropriate perspective, and create a plan to move forward.

#4 Look for options:

Tom Brady passed, ran, handed it off, called timeout, and spiked the ball. Each of these moves was intentional, planned-ahead, and strategic. Like a surgeon working a scalpel, the Patriots functioned with precision in the 2nd half of the Super Bowl. Much of this was due to having options; options they had prepared for ahead of time.

The lesson: Preparation is important, and when done correctly, options will show themselves as available. This relates to your life, your sports, and your career.

#5 Fight with everything:

Is Tom Brady the best quarterback in NFL history? Maybe. Maybe not. One thing is certain however, he is one of the best fighters in all of sports, and probably careers. The passion, resiliency, and emotion that he produces every single day is unrivaled, and you can see it. Tom Brady want’s to be the best, and there isn’t much standing in the way of him chasing that.

The lesson: You have to be willing to fight with everything when you have lofty goals.

Resiliency isn’t just something you’re born with; it’s something that’s practiced, and learned. The Super Bowl win by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots is a great example of emotional resiliency in action.

My hope is that you use the above traits to influence your lives, families, and careers. Remember, you too can be resilient. You just have to work at it.

Did you know that the phrase, “I Hate My Job,” turns up over 240 million Google results?
Did you know that about 70% of employees in the U.S. are not engaged at work?
Did you know that the younger you are, the more disengaged you’re likely to be?

Yeah, I didn’t believe it either.

But according to a recent 2014 Gallup poll that surveyed over 80,000 U.S. employees, only 31.5% of employees are engaged at work. That leaves the whopping majority, either not engaged or actively disengaged.

Talk about a bad case of the Mondays.

If someone you know dreads the daily grind and is ready to make a change, here is one way they can turn their drudgery into delight.

GET A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

Several years ago, I began to feel like a piece of charred toast. I was bitter. I was crusty. I was smokin’ hot - and not in the way that we all wish our dates were in junior high. Oh no! This was pure, unadulterated anger, temper, and rage. I felt overworked, undervalued, and jammed between hot coils. The smoke detector was about to go off. Yep. That was me!

I knew I wasn’t myself, but I wasn’t sure how to change. So, after months of heating up my internal furnace, I reluctantly hired a coach to help me douse my flames of fury.

At first my coaching calls were a complete waste of time.

Here I was, at the brink of insanity, because everyone at work was incompetent, inefficient, and ineffective. And my coach wanted me to do all of these self-reflective exercises, discuss my personal values, and dive deep into all this intangible stuff - vision, mission, and passion. Boring!

Where was the assessment that told me how great I was and how everyone else was a flaming idiot? That’s the assessment I wanted to take. After all, I was getting charred, crusty, and burned-out - because of them!

Months passed. I can only imagine how tempted it was for my coach to give up on me, but he remained calm, cool, and collected. My lack of understanding continued until during one coach call, after droning on and on about all of the problems at work, he finally interrupted my moaning monologue and asked a simple question:

“James, at what point are you gonna stop complaining?”

The question stopped me dead in my tracks. I was relaying the facts of the situation to him. I wasn’t complaining. Or was I?

It took weeks for me to wrestle with his question, but gradually it began to dawn on me that part of the reason I was miserable at work was because of what was going on in my head. I had started to believe the story I told myself. I was the victim. My coworkers were the perpetrators. And all I wanted my coach to do was rescue poor, little ole me.

Reality was much different.

While my story isn’t everyone’s story, through this I learned that, if someone is miserable at work, encourage them to ask a trusted friend, mentor, or coach for their perspective on the situation. It could infuse energy and joy into that person’s life and career!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

HOW HAVE YOU OR OTHERS GONE FROM DRUDGERY TO DELIGHT ON THE JOB?