Resilience isn’t a switch you flip, its a muscle

As old-school bureaucracies collapse, so too do our familiar ways of operating. With that collapse comes a loss of comfort and perceived security. The problem? Humans don’t naturally thrive in uncertainty. Left to our own devices, we prefer to feel in control, play to our strengths, and repeat what worked yesterday.

AI is a major driver of this disruption - but it’s not the only one. Global politics, economic instability, remote working, doomscrolling, social media overload… all contribute to a world of constant change and noise.

So, it’s no surprise that many of my clients are asking for help with resilience and energy. Because the teams that will win in this new world aren’t the ones that resist change - they’re the ones who can surf the wave. They spot opportunity in the chaos, adapt quickly, and move decisively.

But let’s be clear: resilience isn’t a switch you flip. It doesn’t come from a motivational talk or a quick fix. It needs to be nurtured. It needs structure. It needs to be part of how we design and support our teams.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, recently spoke at Stanford. His message was pointed: people at Stanford - like many high achievers - have high expectations. But in his experience, people with high expectations often have low resilience.

It’s through exposure to setbacks, challenges and friction that we build the muscle memory of resilience.  And in today’s world, resilience is non-negotiable.

Before we dive in, a word of caution on this quest for resilience. In chasing it, there’s a real risk that we try to numb or ignore how we actually feel. But the truth is, sometimes things are just… shit. There’s no getting around it. And it’s important - essential, even - to engage with those moments properly, to let ourselves feel and process what’s going on.

We’re not robots. We’re sensitive, emotional human beings, designed to respond and react to the world around us.

That said, as the world continues to spin ever faster, investing in our resilience means we’re better prepared - emotionally, mentally, physically - for those more challenging times when they do come.

We all have those moments. One of mine came on January 10, 2020, when my wife Lil suffered a spinal injury. She spent six months in hospital and came out paralysed from the chest down. She had to adapt to life in a wheelchair. Our kids were 4 and 2 at the time. Then, in March, lockdown hit. We couldn’t visit her in hospital. My business also fell off a cliff.

Fun times.

It demanded a level of sustained resilience that was new to us. And along the way, I picked up a few insights that I now bring into my work with teams. Here are five resilience-building principles I believe are essential for every organisation today:

1. Build a Strong Base

When the tremors hit, your foundations matter. And when I say foundations, I mean human connection. It starts with connection to self - but I’m really talking about strong, meaningful connections within your team. When everything fell apart in my personal life, I leaned on people - family, friends, and work colleagues. Each group offered something different: the practical, the wise, the emotional.

At work, connection is easy to take for granted. Or with today’s hybrid, remote and reactive ways of working, it just drops down the list. But the research is clear: when people feel connected and trust their team, everything improves - stress levels, absenteeism, innovation, productivity, and ultimately, profitability.

At Upping Your Elvis, we help teams strengthen trust and connection. These are often simple, high-impact fixes. A day’s offsite - not focused on the work, but on how you work together - pays back massively. We create experiences that spark better conversations, deeper collaboration, and real connection. Support that with clear communication and cultural reinforcement, and your team’s foundations strengthen fast.

2. Focus

Crisis forces focus. Everything else falls away. You get crystal clear on what truly matters. Spinal injuries and global pandemics are extreme versions of this, but they helped me learn the value of singular energetic focus. When your energy is limited, it has to be used wisely.

At Elvis, we often quote David Hieatt: “Busy is easy.”

Busy doesn’t require thought. You just get swept along by your Outlook calendar, under the false belief that the harder I work, the more I achieve. But real productivity means stepping back. Getting clear on what matters most. Then deploying your energy there - with intent. It’s harder. But it’s smarter. More rewarding. And significantly more impactful.

3. Cultivate a Positive Mindset

Positivity is contagious. And so is negativity. Look for what’s bad, and it’s everywhere. But look for what’s good, and it’s just as abundant.

When dealing with Lil’s injury, there was no use dwelling on the past. It had happened. The power lay in focusing on what was next - the opportunities still ahead. We all have a negativity bias (and if you’re thinking “not me, that’s it showing up). It’s there to protect us, but unmanaged, it feeds anxiety and inhibits potential.

Positivity unlocks potential. And it can come from many places: a leader, a lived value, a team habit, a reframed moment. Be explicit about it. Celebrate it. Role model it. Do it often enough, and it becomes a cultural superpower.

4. Prioritise Energy

If you prioritise and invest in your team’s energy, everything becomes easier — and more enjoyable.

At Elvis, we look at energy in three ways:

·      Physical: Sleep, movement, hydration, nutrition, rest

·      Mental: Focus, reflection, clarity

·      Emotional: Connection, expression, humour, recovery

These aren’t luxuries. Yet we skip over them all the time.

Exercise was a lifeline for me during lockdown. It gave me space to think and process the emotional rollercoaster I was on. Simple things - walking meetings, standing check-ins, energisers - they help. We’re not designed to sit still. We’re designed to move - and when we do, performance follows. When it comes to mental energy, we face a lot of challenges. We’re easily distracted. We’re risk-averse. And we love the familiar. Our attention is a scarce resource - and we need to protect it for the work that matters. Reflection, in my view, is massively underrated. A Harvard Business Review study found that just 10 minutes of reflection at the end of the day - looking at what you’ve done, how you’ve spent your time, and what you’ve learned - can boost productivity and wellbeing by 25%. The more we reflect, the more aware we become of where to spend our time and energy.

And finally, emotional energy. We need to process our emotions. They’re not noise - they’re signals. Your subconscious trying to tell you something. Listening to your emotions can guide you to the right decisions. The more we can talk about how we feel, the good and bad and the ugly, the stronger we and our relationships will be. Talking it out - with friends, with a therapist - helped me not just survive our family crisis but emerge stronger. Design this into your days. Embed it into team rhythms. Prioritise energy - and energy will power everything else.

5. GSOH

You’ve got to laugh. Life’s too short not to. Humour is seriously underrated. It disarms tension. Resets energy. Connects people. Offers perspective when it’s needed most. I’m not sure my wife and I would say we have a ‘good’ sense of humour, but our shared sense of humour? That was probably the biggest factor in navigating everything we went through. Don’t underestimate it.

And the ending?

We got through it. We’ve built a great life. We’ve even built a house in the New Forest.

And now, I help teams build the kind of energetic resilience that helped us navigate all that chaos. Because it’s not a question of if the world will keep changing — it’s how your teams respond when it does.

So…

·      How resilient is your team?

·      How much energy are you really working with?

·      And what would change if you truly invested in it?

If you’d like to explore how Upping your Elvis could help with your team’s level of resilience, energy and connection, we’d love to chat.

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