Turkey entered a stormy period that started with the coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Due to the limitations imposed by the presidential system, the pandemic, the earthquake, the successive general elections and hyperinflation, society as a whole is tired, weary and pessimistic about the future. People who do not know each other on the street easily resort to violence for very simple reasons, and conflicts resulting in deaths are occurring.
In the World Happiness Survey conducted by the Gallup Institute every year, Turkey ranks among the bottom ten countries in positive parameters such as rest, respect, laughter, learning and having fun, and among the top ten countries in negative parameters such as pain and suffering, anxiety, sadness, stress and anger. Perhaps partly as a result of this, every day we are shocked by the news of violence that we are not used to seeing on the streets. However, some people who live in similar conditions continue their lives without complaining about these feelings. The topic of this article is to help you realize to what extent you have the characteristics of these people with psychological resilience.
Psychological resilience helps to cope with the disappointment of negative feedback and to take on challenges and obstacles. Psychological resilience provides a positive and meaningful approach to solving problems and activates the motivation and mental processes that will make the person successful. Seligman focused his approach on the positive aspects of human beings such as creativity, hope, courage, wisdom and responsibility. The basis of Seligman’s approach is to focus on the positive and the good, based on the characteristics we have listed, instead of focusing on mistakes, flaws and wrongs in people and on what is wrong in society. Thus, it is believed that it is possible to create happier and more effective people, efficient organizations and a better functioning society.
According to Luthans and his colleagues, a person with strong psychological resilience shows the following characteristics (1).
- Feeling confident in one’s ability to cope with challenging tasks
- Believing in success now and in the future
- Showing persistence in achieving one’s goals
- Behaving flexibly and adapting well when facing problems.
A person with these characteristics shows high performance in business life to the extent of his/her potential. Such an employee does his/her part to do better even if external conditions do not force him/her to do so, shows commitment to the organization he/she works for, and devotes himself/herself physically, mentally and emotionally to his/her work. In a way, all these are nothing but the reflection of a positive attitude in life.
High performance does not come out of comfort zone
This finding has value for the development of both individuals and organizations. People develop their potential and psychological resilience by taking responsibility. Struggling with challenges, overcoming difficulties, stepping back and evaluating when they fail, and approaching the problem from a different perspective make people resilient. Resilience and the ability to struggle ensure that people do not shy away from future problems and give them the courage to tackle them. As a result, people recognize their abilities, skills and limits, start to live in peace with themselves and are able to evaluate risks realistically. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone and taking responsibility inevitably brings with it the possibility of making mistakes. In the meantime, it is possible to see mistakes made as learning opportunities and to see the leader as a safe harbor in business life.
Hope
Hope is a positive expectation of the future. Hope is the source of energy that focuses people on the goal and leads them to find alternative ways to achieve it. Some people use optimism and hope interchangeably. When we talk about hope, it should include the components of action, method and purpose (goal). Hope involves, on the one hand, focusing on the goal and, on the other hand, the way and method to be chosen to achieve that goal. For hope to be realistic, it must first include a plan and then action.
Optimism or positive attitude
Optimism and positive attitude are often confused. Optimism is based on the belief that things will work out in the end, that “everything works out for the best” and that negative thinking invites evil. This is why optimistic people underestimate the symptoms of illness, delay seeking medical attention and do not follow medical advice. A positive attitude is to focus energy on what is to come and what is ahead, not on what has happened and what is behind. Because where energy is put, life flourishes. Those with a positive attitude focus on the opportunity within the problem, rather than complaining, blaming themselves, external circumstances or others, and getting stuck in negative events. During a pandemic, when the whole world is affected and each society pays different prices according to the quality of its leadership, a person with a negative attitude evaluates the situation, complains about his/her bad luck, thinks “why me?”, “why me?”, “why me?”, “when will it end?”. The person with a positive attitude, on the other hand, thinks about how he/she can improve himself/herself under these circumstances, how he/she can come out of this process stronger, and how he/she can use this time to develop useful competencies. What is important here is whether the thought focuses on what has happened and cannot be changed, or on what will happen and can be changed.
Resilience
Resilience can be defined as returning to one’s former self after a challenge or adversity. Those who are not close to the subject may understand resilience as tolerance and endurance. Resilient people thrive in the face of complex situations and challenges. This trait encompasses psychological and physiological qualities of the personality such as resilience, resistance and flexibility. Struggling with challenges, overcoming difficulties, stepping back and evaluating when they fail, and approaching the problem from a different perspective make people resilient. Resilience and the characteristic of struggle enable people not to shy away from future problems and give them the courage to tackle them. As a result, people recognize their abilities, skills and limits, start to live in peace with themselves and are able to evaluate risks realistically.
The most prominent characteristic of resilient people is their ability to manage their emotions. Resilience is the ability not to give up the struggle by focusing on goals and success. Psychological resilience includes the ability to deal with uncertainty, negative situations and obstacles. When a person is unsuccessful in solving a problem, he or she retreats, goes around the problem and attempts to solve it again.
Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the basic level of belief that people will succeed in doing a job. Self-efficacy has a direct impact on motivation. People with high self-efficacy are willing to step out of their comfort zone, take on additional responsibilities and, as a result, naturally develop their skills and potential. Self-efficacy is not related to one’s competencies, but to the general perception of competence. This perception is based on a sense of competence related to the difficulties and obstacles overcome in the past. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between performance and self-efficacy.
Conclusion
The times we live in have shown how fragile our lives and the world we build for ourselves are. The motivation to overcome this fragility depends on our psychological resilience. This resilience is developed in life and in the face of adversity, by reading, by growing intellectual depth, and its foundations are laid very early in life, by investing in development, in culture, in culture, and in realizing values other than money. As Irving Yalom says, “In order to have a meaningful relationship with another person, one must first be able to have a relationship with oneself. He who cannot be alone with himself uses someone else as a shield against his loneliness”.
Sources:
- Luthans, F. ve ark.: Psychological Capital, Developing the human competetive edge, Oxford University Press, 2007
