"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way, your mind looks at what happens" - Khalil Gibran

Have you ever felt that you would like to stop the world for a while, to rest, recover and make sense of it all? The 21st century has brought a truly accelerated pace, and, according to British psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman, the overall pace of life has increased by 10 percent worldwide since the mid-1990s. In some places, it has even increased by 20 percent.

Dr. Wiseman points to technological advances as a possible explanation for our collective sense of urgency. The immediacy of communication and the growth of 24/7 social media have informed our time perception. At present, 'now' has become the new yesterday. As a result, we are all too often left time-crunched, stressed, and overwhelmed.

Defining personal resilience

The concept of being stretched and challenged and being able to cope and bounce back is an interesting one. At an individual level, who wouldn't welcome the ability to cope better with life's day-to-day challenges as well as the bigger knocks that we all inevitably have to endure? Resilience is the name given to this desirable trait, although there is no common understanding as to its exact nature or process. In this module we will simplify definitions and provide practical and accessible advice that you can put into action straight away, helping you to develop your own personal resilience capacity.

Let's begin by saying that resilience is a person's capacity to respond to pressure and the demands of daily life. In short, resilience affects our ability to bounce back.

At work, resilient people are better able to deal with the demands placed upon them, especially where those demands might require them to be dealing with constantly changing priorities and a heavy workload.

Importantly, and somewhat helpfully, resilience is not a characteristic gifted to some individuals and not others. The key here is that resilience is not a passive quality, but an active process. How we choose to approach life, and everything it can throw at us, has a massive impact on our experience. Resilient people do more of the things that help maintain that responsiveness. It is relatively easy for those of us who are feeling less resilient to develop habits that will increase our ability to perform under pressure, and perhaps more importantly, to live better despite circumstances that try us to the limit.

Why is it that some people thrive in the face of challenge and adversity at work, while others panic and withdraw into themselves? And why is it these same people appear to get ahead while others tread water, or slowly drown in the white waters of life?

Most people think that a combination of intelligence and lots of experience allows people to thrive in potentially hostile working environments. In fact, while these factors are undoubtedly important, it is those with good personal resilience who cope best with challenges such as constant organizational change and upheaval, impending staff cutbacks, looming deadlines, argumentative meetings, demanding customers, and work colleagues, and competition from business rivals.

"The good news is that although some people seem to be born with more resilience than others, those whose resilience is lower can learn how to boost their ability to cope, thrive, and flourish when the going gets tough" (Centre for Confidence and Well-Being, Glasgow).