This forth resilience factor ‘employing your skills’
is, on the one hand, quite easy and fun to develop, but it is often also not consciously
and regularly implemented. And that is a shame.
Daniel Pink describes, based on numerous researches, 3
basic forms of motivation in his book ‘Drive’:
Motivation 1.0: the will to survive
Motivation 2.0: reward and punishment
Motivation 3.0: intrinsic motivation
In regard of the first two, we are mostly a little bit
at the mercy of others and our surrounding. To develop a healthy resilience, especially
during times of change and challenges, one needs deep intrinsic motivation,
motivation that comes from inside and is not so depending on the external
situation.
Pink gives us 3 elements that are required to develop
and enjoy our intrinsic motivation (also check out this great clip, which is
brilliantly illustrating these 3 elements – especially from 5 minutes and
onwards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc):
1. Mastery
Keep on developing your unique skills.
2. Autonomy
Space and clarity concerning expectations, so that you are able to
organize job and life in a way that suits you and your possibilities best.
3. Meaning/transcendent
purpose
Experiencing the energy that is released when you are able to really
contribute to something bigger, to society.
The story begins with discovering your unique skills.
There are 2 sorts of skills:
1. Innate, natural
skills
They stand out because, you’re not only good at it, but they also really
give you energy when you are employing them. For instance, when I am writing
for about 3 hours, that gives me more energy than it costs. This search for ‘what
our natural skills could be’, often begins with simply looking back. Looking
back on positive and fun projects that you were involved with, and recognizing
what skills you have employed during them. In regard to the resilience factor 1
‘a reconciled past’ I have already discussed this a little. Next to our ‘taking
a good look at our personal history’ it is a good idea to ask yourself things
like: ‘What do I really enjoy doing? And what is giving me energy while I am
doing it.’
2. Everyone also has
certain taught-skills. Skills that are not per se part of your natural
skill-packet. For example, I deem myself a quite good driver, but when I am
driving the car I am not getting any extra energy of it. These taught-skills
are often very useful, but they don’t necessary contribute that much to a higher
resilience factor.
Dr. Helmut Kolitzus
wrote in his book about burn-out-prevention:
‘People that are
able of employing their skills in various creative ways recover much faster
from a crisis-situation, they develop a healthier self-consciousness and have
in general a higher resilience-factor.’
The company ‘Meisterleistung’
(www.meisterleistung.de) describes the forth resilience factor as follows: ‘the
competence to be aware of the positive things in life, and to consciously experience
and recognize ones skills.’
Some practical tips
for you!
1.
Create a list of
skills that you recognize throughout your career/life
2.
Use the skills-workshop
of xpand (order via www.xpand.eu) to gain a clear overview of your top-skills
3.
Bring these 2 lists
together, and make a priority-pyramid of your top 6 skills
4.
Now, think how you
could employ these 6 skills more often throughout work and life
5.
Have fun!
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