6 Ways to Build Resiliency: Improve Yourself and Your Workplace

It’s that time of year again! The next two days we’ll be blogging from GovLoop and YGL’s Next Generation of Government Training Summit. Follow along @NextGenGov and read more blog posts here.

Beth A Payne, Director of the Office of Children’s Issues at the Department of State, knows a thing or two about resiliency. As a Foreign Service Officer, she traveled from Senegal, to Rwanda, to Israel and Kuwait.

But Beth left Baghdad, Iraq, a different person. Her experience left her weak and troubled. Payne suffered from low resiliency with sleeplessness, anxiety, and a different temperament.

However, Beth didn’t falter and she refused to quit. Her diagnosis was normal and sought help. She vowed to use her experience as a learning tool that could help others.

Here Payne offers six ways to improve resiliency.

1 Rest your brain: It’s just as important as your body. Focus on just one thing through meditation and yoga or even an activity like jigsaw puzzles, photography or gardening.

2: Make time for in-person interactions: Even introverts need to see people! Break the barrier and start conversations with someone new.

3: Stop overworking: Overexerting yourself leads to fatigue. If you work less you can make every hour count. Use your energy wisely.

4: Make time for hobbies: Feed your passions to reduce stress. This will actually give you energy throughout the day and give you a reward after a day of hard work.

5: Don’t overindulge: Splurging can give you a big high but also lead to a big low. It’s easily the biggest resiliency killer. You can still enjoy your luxury of drinking or shopping but make sure to use moderation.

6: Be honest with yourself and others: Don’t pretend to be invincible. Acknowledge your weaknesses and you’ll become a stronger person.

If your agency utilizes these steps then your team will see higher resiliency immediately.

More information on NextGen

Today GovLoop and Young Government Leaders are hosting their annual Next Generation of Government Leaders Summit. Throughout the summit, be sure to check GovLoop and our social media sites to keep up with all the latest from the summit. We’re really excited about this year – and hope to share the experience with all of you.

If you’re unfamiliar with NextGen, the annual training summit educates, inspires and promotes innovation for new and rising leaders in government. Since 2010, the two-day summit has enhanced the professional and personal lives of 2,000+ Generation X and Y government employees, who are excited to learn new skills to innovate.