WLE Leslie member for 36 weeks 8 hours Send a message

Experience is a great teacher. When I was in my twenties, when something went wrong, it always seemed to be a catastrophe because I conjured an imaginary outcome in my mind. A boyfriend stopped calling. (I’m not worthy of a serious relationship.) My boss criticized me. (I’m going to get fired.) I didn’t get the raise. (I’ll always be poor.) My husband used a critical tone of voice. (He wants to divorce me.) Whatever the “big” problem was, it seemed insurmountable. As years went by and I started a business, many of the problems I faced got bigger and harder to tackle. Fortunately, little by little, I learned to be resilient. To me being resilient is being able to come back and move forward successfully, after something that you perceive as a huge problem or challenge stops you dead in your tracks. It could be a health problem for you, or a loved one. It could be losing your biggest customer.

Right now, the current economy could impact many of our businesses. So I am going to invent a new word – the word is “pro-resilient”. The definition of “pro-resilient” is preparing yourself to address possible challenges before catastrophes or challenges occur. (I invented the word so I have the right to invent the definition, too.) Now, I’m not saying you should expect bad things. In fact, I believe in the Law of Attraction so I believe that if you expect what you want, you will get it. “Pro-resilient” fits nicely into that thinking. In other words, when the rest of the world is pessimistic, you can be optimistic. However, in so doing, you prepare yourself to attract what you want. I don’t believe waving a magic wand will make good things appear. However, planning how you are going to come back from challenges before they are challenges is “pro-resilient.” For example, if your business relies on one or two big clients, you need to go out there now and get more clients – look for clients that are in industries that are less likely to be affected by the recession. How often do we get so caught up serving our current customers that we end up neglecting networking and new business development? As for health issues: take care of yourself, get that annual physical, take vitamins, know your family history, so you know what you should be watching out for. Being too busy is a poor excuse.

Take care of yourself, take care of your business…before you have to be resilient. Let’s encourage each other to be “pro-resilient”!

Leslie Grossman is the cofounder of Women’s Leadership Exchange and the author of the book, "SELLSATION! How Companies Can Capture Today’s Hottest Market: Women Business Owners & Executives?" (WPE Press). WLE is her fifth business. She is happily married and has two children, age 28 and 24.

To read more articles like these, visit: WomensLeadershipExchange.com

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