Resilience in the Reset: Starting Again After a Setback
Resilience: A Journey of Mental Strength
If there’s one lesson I learned later in my career, it’s this: resets matter.
We don’t always get it right the first time. Mistakes happen. Setbacks come. Life doesn’t hand out perfect runs or flawless meetings. And that’s okay, because resilience isn’t about never falling. It’s about getting back up, resetting, and moving forward stronger than before.
The Story
Early in my career, I thought progress was about charging forward without looking back. However, I learned over time that being agile and resetting after the fall is the most crucial part.
When you and your team are knocked down, resilience isn’t just about bouncing back; it’s about understanding where you went wrong, correcting the mistake, and carrying the lesson forward.
Running has taught me this lesson repeatedly. I talk about running a lot (sorry, I’m passionate about running). Every run has moments where you reset, catch your breath, adjust your pace, and shift your stride. Sometimes music helps, giving you a fresh beat to move forward. Other times, I run without music at all. I lean into the sounds of the world around me, the background noise, the sights, even the silence, and filter out the noise inside my head. Each step becomes a reset, a way to keep moving forward.
In leadership, it’s the same. The reset doesn’t erase the setback; it transforms it into fuel.
The Framework: Practicing the Reset
- Stop and breathe. Interrupt the spiral. Take a moment before reacting.
- Reframe the moment. Ask: What’s the lesson here? Failure becomes feedback.
- Reset your next move. Don’t stall in the setback; use it as an opportunity to step forward again.
The Bigger Picture
The other thing I’ve learned? Resilience is rarely built alone.
Throughout my career, it has often been others, mentors, teammates, and family who helped me reset when I couldn’t see the path forward myself. They reminded me that mistakes don’t define me. They reminded me that resilience isn’t about perfection—it’s about persistence.
That’s why connection matters. When we trust others and lean on them, we multiply our resilience. We borrow strength until we rebuild our own. And when we do? We give it back to the next person who needs it.
Goals and Next Steps
- Trust the reset. See mistakes not as endings, but as pivots.
- Build agility. Encourage your team to learn fast and adapt faster.
- Share resilience. When you’ve reset and found strength, use it to lift someone else.
Resilience isn’t about being unshakable. It’s about being able to shake, stumble, and still stand back up. It’s about trusting the reset, starting again, and moving forward, together.
Question for you: How do you reset when things don’t go your way?