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Hold on to your hat, because if the past 12 months are any indication, 2024 is going to be a year to remember. The world is on fire—literally and metaphorically—and a super-polarizing election looms, which is like catnip for anxiety. There’s AI (friend or foe?) and inflation (up or down?) and that weird thing on your neck you’ve been meaning to get checked out. So, you’ll want a tool kit that’ll help you anticipate, understand, and overcome adversity and stress. Luckily, we have four tools that help you not only cope but thrive.
1. Rugged Flexibility
First up, embracing change with what performance coach and author Brad Stulberg calls rugged flexibility. As Stulberg says, things are never as static as they may seem and we’re always in a cycle of order-disorder-reorder. The ruggedness is about holding on to what’s essential to you, while the flexibility comes from letting the rest go. This approach will help you adapt, evolve, and grow so you’re not constantly feeling unstable. For example, an injured runner might transition to rowing or lifting, understanding that while running can’t happen right now, what’s important to him—movement—still can.
How to use it:
Stulberg suggests viewing change and disorder as something you’re in conversation with. This will help you decide where you can be flexible and where you need to stay rugged in your approach.
2. Supercommunicator Skills
In today’s polarized and digitized world, where the surgeon general has declared a loneliness epidemic, connecting with others is essential for our mental and physical health. For his new book, Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg analyzed people who excelled at creating profound connections and found that anyone can do it.
How to use it:
Supercommunicators listen and ask questions, recognizing the kind of conversation they’re having and even asking the other person directly what they need. When both people are engaged in the same kind of conversation, they connect physically and mentally, leading to a deeper bond and reducing feelings of loneliness.