Great performers have enormous fighting spirit. They may be well-known stars: such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer contesting an epic Wimbledon Tennis Final. Or they may be relatively unknown: such as an immigrant family working to survive in a new country. Such people are prepared to sweat, be creative and do everything possible to reach their goals. Let’s explore how you can continue to demonstrate these qualities.

1) You can clarify the times when you have harnessed your fighting spirit.

Looking back on your life, when have you shown fighting spirit? You may have been playing a sport, recovering from a setback, searching to find work or whatever. What did you do right then? How can you follow those principles in the future? Al Siebert, author of The Resiliency Advantage, has devoted his life to studying people who have overcome adversity. Embarking on his studies, he focused on people who had:

* Survived a major crisis or challenge;

* Surmounted the crisis through personal effort;

* Emerged from the experience with previously unknown strengths and afterwards found value in the experience.

“I kept a curious and open mind as I read autobiographies and interviewed hundreds of people,” he wrote. “(These people included) survivors of the World War II Bataan Death March; Jewish survivors of the Nazi holocaust; ex-POWs and Vietnam veterans; survivors of cancer, polio, head injury, and other physically challenging conditions; survivors of rape, abuse, alcoholism, co-dependency, and addictions; parents of murdered children; survivors of bankruptcy, job loss, and other major life-disrupting events. I became curious about public employees who remain cheerful and dedicated to their work even while being maligned by the people they serve.”

A few people are born survivors, says Al, just as some people are born musicians or artists. They have a natural talent for managing adversity. But then comes an important point: “The rest of us need to work consciously to develop our abilities … We have to work at learning how to handle pressure, difficult people, negative situations, and disruptive change.” Many of the best people in our world have been strengthened in the school of life, says Al, “… and hit by the worst that life can throw at them. Their reaction is to pick themselves up, learn important lessons, set positive goals, and rebuild their lives.”

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking back on your life, describe some of the times you have used your fighting spirit. Maybe you were tackling a big challenge - such as regaining your health or finding work during a recession. Maybe you were mobilising your energy over a shorter period of time - such as striving to meet a deadline or hit the heights during a sporting context. Try completing the following sentence.

Some of the times in my life when I have
harnessed my fighting spirit have been:

*

*

*

*

2) You can clarify what you did to harness your fighting spirit.

Looking back, focus on one of those times. What did you do right then to demonstrate fighting spirit? You may have, for example, chosen to take a stand, set a positive goal, clarified your strategy, gathered allies, thrown yourself fully into the task, found creative solutions to challenges and worked hard till you reached the goal. Every such act begins with a decision. You choose to use every ounce of your being to achieve your picture of success.

Al Siebert found that resilient people had certain ‘life-competencies’. For example, they took responsibility, were curious, saw patterns, focused on what they could control, developed problem-solving skills and did their best to reach the goal. Such schools were learned in the ’school of life’, rather than the sheltered classroom (or an organisational institution). He found that actual ’survivors’ of real-life crises were more likely to stay calm in the emergency, see things in perspective and clarify the ‘controllables’. They were also able:

* To rapidly read the new reality, gather information and see what was actually happening;

* To set their goal, explore all possible options and choose their strategy – or strategies – for going forward;

* To do their best, find solutions challenges – sometimes in rapidly changing circumstances - and do everything possible to reach their goal.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking back on your chosen example, describe the specific things you did to harness your fighting spirit. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I did right to harness
my fighting spirit in the situation were:

*

*

*

3) You can clarify how you can harness your fighting spirit in the future.

“People choose between ‘fight or flight’ in difficult situations,” we used to be told. Nowadays we know that some people choose to ‘flow’ when faced by tough challenges. Before going into ‘flow mode’, however, they channel their ‘fighting spirit’, work hard and then, at the right moment, ‘flow, focus and finish’. Great athletes, for example, mentally rehearse mobilising their efforts when it matters. Some athletes find it easier to tap into their fighting spirit when ‘chasing down’ others, rather than being the one who is ‘chased’. Tiger Woods is an exception. He is quite happy leading from the front in a major golf championship. Certainly he possesses enormous resilience – which he uses to overcome bad shots - but is also able to flow at key moments. Great performers mentally rehearse using their fighting spirit for potential ‘positive situations’ - when things are going well – as much as they do for ‘negative situations’. This enables them to maximise their talents and go into new dimensions.

Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, choose a specific situation where you may want to use your fighting spirit in the future. This could be a ‘negative situation’, such as receiving a severe setback, or a ‘positive situation’, where you are already experiencing some success. Second, describe the specific things you can do to use your fighting spirit. Third, describe the benefits of mobilising your energy. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific situation where I want to harness
my fighting spirit in the future could be:

*

The specific things I can do to harness
my fighting spirit in that situation are:

*

*

*

*

*

*

Everybody has a history of using their fighting spirit. People can gather strength from finding these successful patterns. They can follow these patterns in the future in both their personal and professional lives. Al Siebert’s work provides a vast resource of tools and knowledge that people can use to develop such resiliency. You can find out more about this work at: http://www.resiliencycenter.com

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