Have you ever noticed yourself easing off when things get hard?
You stop pushing. You slow down. Maybe you become overwhelmed by analysis paralysis.
You want to be the kind of person who puts in extra effort when it matters. Who digs deeper when most people step back. Who keeps showing up because the win is worth it.
You want to look back and know you earned it. Not through luck or shortcuts, but through grit. You stayed in it. You kept momentum. You moved forward, no matter what.
That’s what builds resilience. It’s not hype or talent. It’s the ability to persist with purpose. It’s what turns desire into results and goals into reality.
It’s a temperature check. A way to see where I’m doing well and where I need to focus.
Rate yourself out of 10 on each:
- Responsibility - Are you taking charge of what’s in front of you? For example, “When sales are low, don’t focus on the economy; focus on the activities that you can do.”
- Effort - Are you applying your energy to the right things? For example, “I made 50 phone calls and none converted, I need to make 65+. I have to keep pushing until the result is delivered.”
- Blame - Are you focused on what you can do vs what is being done to you? For example, “The client went dark after the proposal. Instead of blaming their lack of communication, I reviewed the process. Did we follow up fast enough? Did we handle objections clearly? What can we tighten so that this doesn’t happen again.”
Let’s say it looks like this:
Responsibility = 8
Effort = 7
Blame = 2
That’s (8 × 7) ÷ 2 = 28
If a plan shifts, a task stalls, or someone doesn’t deliver, I don’t spend time dwelling on it. I focus on what I can move next. That’s it. I don’t need to fix the whole thing. I just stay involved. If I keep working on the one thing I can move, things fall into place. If it doesn’t, I’ve still made progress. I’m not sitting there waiting for someone else to get it going again.
- Observe what’s happening
- Work the problem
- Name the items that you can work on that will make a difference.
- Initiate a next step
- Track what shifted
Progress over perfection. Perfect is the enemy of done.
Effort is about knocking things over properly. The items that count. Calls made. Decisions landed. Tasks finished. Done at a level of excellence and fully finished. The more of those I get through in a day, the more progress I’ve made.
- Persist - Keep going, even when it’s slower than you’d like.
- Unstick - Don’t sit stuck. Change something and re-attack.
- Sweat - Do the thing with friction. That’s the bit that matters.
- Hard Yakka - Roll your sleeves up and finish the job properly.
Sometimes it’s a big piece. Sometimes it’s just a phone call I’ve been avoiding. Either way, one block of real effort shifts the whole day.
Blame is when I start linking my activities or behaviours to what someone else just did. Happens all the time. “They didn’t reply.” “They were disrespectful to me.” “This person is a d*ckhead.” It sounds harmless, but it just means I am giving away control. As soon as I notice it, I bring it back by doing something useful. Something I own. That’s how I stay in the driver’s seat.
● Break the Cycle - Pause. Create space.
● Look for Leverage - Find the part you can move right now.
● Act on That - Choose something and move it.
● Move Quickly - Don’t wait.
● Establish Control - Always be in control
Resilience shows up when it’s easier to back off, but you don’t.
If you feel like giving up more than you feel like pushing through, it’s probably time to work on it.
Score yourself. Find the lowest input.
Use OWN IT, PUSH, or B.L.A.M.E.