On March 16, 2012 I will be delivering the CEO message to the graduating class of 2012 of a tertiary school for the 19th time in the 21st year of its existence. I’ve been asked many times what the one quality I had hoped each of the graduates would have learned within the portals of the academe and would carry with them in their lifetime.
Well, I had given this question much thought in the past few days and even made it subject of my talk in my Saturday staff meeting 2 days ago. As I prepared my message my answer crystallized in my mind. The one quality I would wish upon any youth about to embark on a journey with a life full of promise in front of him is Resilience.
We cannot expect to go through life without experiencing some temporary setbacks or even failures. It is important during the times that we fall to always have the resolve and the stamina to “bounce back”. But this is easier said than done.
I have encountered a lot of people who in their younger years have shown so much promise. They have the intelligence and even the family pedigree to assure a bright future.
Many years later, and much to my surprise, I found many of them had lived ordinary lives, way below what one would expect for them to achieve, given their status in life. Some wallowed in discontent. A few were downright unhappy, and even regretful. Not a few had failed marriages or bad relationships.
I also know people who in their youth could barely afford the basic necessities of life, much less the “too-much-hype education” in a Filipino culture. But despite their humble circumstances, they attained a lot of success years later. Many of them reside or work in different parts of the globe. This is the reason I get so many standing offers to visit places.
I was intrigued by the x-factor that made "achievement" in one’s life journey easy for some and difficult for others. When I looked closely into their lives, one quality invariably stood out. All of them had resilience. I personally define this as the “art of bouncing back”.
But why is it an art? It is because Resilience is a skill that can be learned through observation and practice. And because it can be learned, it can also be created if you do not have it; as much as develop it when you barely have enough of it. I reckon it basically takes 3 things to be able to bounce back.
The 3 Things We Need to Create Resilience:
(1) Wisdom. When life takes you down, you should immediately pray for wisdom to discern what lesson can be learned. If you can find a lesson in it somewhere, a setback would be easier to accept. I also think that when we pray for wisdom what we are actually given is humility.
(2) Creativity. When we fail, let's not waste time brooding over our weaknesses. Accept and move on. Look at your strengths and have the creativity to re-apply yourself to other endeavors where you can highlight your strengths.
(3) Discipline. Having decided on a certain path, have the stamina and the dogged determination to pursue it relentlessly.
