b'BUILDING RESILIENCEBuilding your bandwidth One choice at a timeBy Deborah BaktiI m so exhausted and wish someone could just taketo focus on things you cant do anything about. There over and tell me what to do. This is what a veryare many situations that lie outside of your control: capable leader told me recently during a coachingthe weather, the economy, politics, and other peoples conversation. They were suffering from what I call reactions, just to name a few. Lead Fatigue. Rather than waste your limited energy on concerns you Perhaps you also feel this at times, as you continue tocant do anything about, focus on what you CAN control run a sprinters pace in this COVID-19 marathon, with noand influence. You get to choose whether you allow your finish line in sight. Endless decisions need to be made,frustration to turn into road rage, or you accept the extra policies and protocols implemented, then changed, thentime in traffic as a way to catch up on podcasts. You get reimplemented. The uncertainty of 2020 and beyondto choose your attitude, emotions, tone of voice, and how continues to run in the background, like too manyyou engage with the grocery store clerk or your upset programs open on your computer, creating a lag in yourfamily member. physical and emotional energy. In the pre-COVID-19 days, the preventative cure was a tripWhen we allow a bad mood to take over our day, we are south for a couple weeks of sun and fun: a longer-termrisking every interaction we have with others, because recharge where you were able to come back to workmoods are usually the cause, not the result, of our feeling human again. Leaders are now seeing their teamproblems. A bad mood can trigger snapping at amembers come back from a one-week vacation lookingco-worker, or rolling our eyes at a family member, and as exhausted as when they left. The staycation with kids atthen things really start to unravel. In life we cannot always home and renos to be done just isnt cutting it.control the arrow. However the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow isThis new reality creates an opportunity to adjust some ofoptional.Buddha your daily choices and be more intentional with building your resiliency reserve. Then you can better manage those Embrace the Stockdale Paradoxtimes of crisis and intensity with a more powerful presence.The Stockdale Paradox was coined by Jim Collins, author You can be the strong and effective leader and avoid theof Good to Great, after Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was suffering of lead fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout.the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in the Hanoi Hilton POW camp during the Vietnam war. He was tortured over Here are four ways you can invest in yourself and build20 times during his eight-year imprisonment and uncertain your bandwidth. if he would ever be released and survive. When asked how he managed through it, he said: You must never confuse Focus on what you CAN control and influence faith that you will prevail in the endwith the discipline to The fastest way to feel depleted and overwhelmed isconfront the most brutal facts of your current reality. 16 LONG TERM CARE TODAY Fall/Winter 2020'