We (all 6 billion of us) currently find ourselves in a world suddenly very different to our ‘normal’, calling us to be ‘agile’ at a whole new level.
As Dr Paul Wood states in his COVID-19 Resilience Video Series – our “least least least least!” favourite thing, as humans, is uncertainty – and here we are living it. And yet – isn’t uncertainty the only certainty in life?
This time presents us with a challenge that may prove to be a gift in hindsight, showing us what we are truly capable of at a collective level.
As Viktor Frankl famously said, we cannot choose our circumstances, but our great freedom, has always been that we can choose how we respond.
Below are some articles offering ideas and tips for how to adjust, and perhaps thrive through, this unprecedented time, both professionally and personally.
1. Carpe Diem Strategy
The present and coming shutdowns associated with COVID-19 suppression measures provide infrastructure owning and managing authorities a unique once in a decade opportunity, By Dr Ross Waugh, Waugh Infrastructure – click here.
2. New Zealand Government’s COVID-19 Website
3. ISOLATE LIKE A PRO – 13 tips for resilience during isolation
Paul Pringle, the Managing Director of Wellington-based Strategy Group, created these 13 evidence-based tips for isolating like a pro.
We loved this quote from his website: To understand, is to know what to do. Wittgenstein.
3. 8 Tips to Help you become more resilient
Clinical psychologist Meg Jay shares practical ways to overcome whatever life throws your way.
Clinical psychologist Meg Jay (TED Talk: Why 30 is not the new 20) doesn’t like the idea of bouncing back from adversity. “People do not feel understood when someone says, ‘Wow, you really bounced back from that.’ They don’t feel seen in all of their complexity, in terms of how hard it can be,’” she says. Instead, Jay likes to describe resilience as a heroic struggle. “It’s really a battle, not a bounce,” she says — an ongoing process that can last for years.
Jay has spent close to two decades studying adult development and listening to the stories of people in her clinical practice. Along the way, she’s learned important lessons about resilience, which she shared in her new book, Supernormal, and in a Facebook Live at TED’s NYC Headquarters in November. One key takeaway? “Resilience is not a trait. It’s not something you’re born with. It’s not something you just have,” she says. We’ve distilled her essential tips for how you can become more resilient.
4. Yale University’s ‘The Science of Well-being’
- Free online course (20hrs) – coursera.org.
In the spring of 2018, Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos unveiled a new course, Psychology and the Good Life. The subject was happiness.
The course was launched in the US — home to supposedly only the 19th-happiest population in the world, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report — at one of the nation’s most elite and high-pressure colleges.
The reaction was unprecedented. Psychology and the Good Life became the most popular class ever taught in Yale University’s 317-year history, and garnered national and international media attention. The university reportedly had trouble staffing it, pulling fellows from the School of Public Health and the Law School to meet the demands.
A remarkable one in four Yale students at one point were taking the course. While most large lectures at Yale don’t exceed 600 students, Psychology and the Good Life had enrolled 1,182. – sign up for free here.
5. Looking after your wellbeing during COVID-19 – from Sektor
This comprehensive list of resources, tools and strategies for maintaining your wellbeing during lockdown, is excellent – view here.
