As a former competitive swimmer and current snow skier, I love the Olympics – both summer and winter. My favorite part of the Olympics is hearing the athletes’ stories of passion, overcoming challenges, and pursuing their dream. There is so much we can learn from them including how they handle difficulties and challenges.

Watching the ice skaters is a great example of resilience. A skater falls, yet stands up and continues the routine after just experiencing failure and disappointment. On a daily basis, how do you handle ‘falling down’? Can you let it go immediately and get back on track to accomplish the task at hand and finish the project? Or do you get distracted and stay down for an extended period of time? How resilient are you? Can you experience disappointment and bounce back quickly? Can you adapt to new information or experience and reset your expectations?

Your ability to be resilient is a great leadership trait.

Part of being resilient means accepting that difficulties or adversities can and will happen. If you expect perfection all the time, from everyone… well, see how well that works for you! Major stress will be your friend! There is a balance between having high expectations and accepting challenges with a willingness to learn. Setting goals and expectations is important to success, yet being rigid in how they are reached is not. Focusing on blaming someone and complaining will keep you down. When a disappointment occurs, a method to bounce out of it would be to ask yourself “What can I learn from this?” “What new opportunity is available from this experience?”.  Taking responsibility, focusing on learning and moving into the future will help you stand back up.

Find joy in challenges as they will allow you to grow and develop both as a person and as a leader.