What if we could 'start new' every day? We'd hit restart and embark on the day fresh. Let's consider waking up with a clean slate, and the day is ours. What do we make of it? The thing is, when play is your life's work, like ours, you learn a few things along the way about playing in real life. There are things that keep us moving in the direction we want, even when faced with challenges. We all want to live life to the fullest. And, when we hit any bumps along the way, we learn to use them as waypoints. These waypoints lead us forward vs. endpoints that keep us stuck. Every day is an invitation to wake up, be resilient and solve problems. The biggest challenge many of us face is understanding there's a choice. We get to step forward into each new day with resilience and a problem-solving mindset. Or not. When we're stalled behind a big challenge, unable to move forward, we must understand there is a choice. Like many things in life, we get to build and develop resiliency. Then, we can face every day with improved skills and mindset. Understanding the choice is one thing. Leading with that strong sense of resilience and problem-solving mindset is another.

How to Lead With Resilience

Think about the word resilience for a moment. What does that mean exactly? The definition of resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilience is the ability of a substance or an object to spring back into shape; elasticity. The challenges we faced yesterday have nothing on us today. When we wake up, it's a fresh start. We wake up tougher from the lessons learned the day before. We get to spring forward, and we're stronger for it. There are some things to consider that will help build resiliency and a problem-solving mindset, they are: Challenges and setbacks are lessons: And even the most challenging moments we go through, are lessons. Although, in the thick of it, it doesn't feel like it. Through the tough times, we build up our resiliency and we get better and better at bouncing back. View the trying times as part of the journey, and wake up knowing the tough days lead to the success and happiness we long for. We see this in the way we do any new tasks. At first, this may feel uneasy. When we don't know exactly how to do it, and the outcome is unknown. We'll most likely come across complications and challenges that we figure out. It can be a scary feeling. Yet, once we do a new thing, we're

full of pride and we're ready to try again. Soon, we master the task. Something that wouldn't happen without the challenges overcome along the way. Failure is part of the process: It's no joke. People are afraid of failing. Fear is the thing that holds us back. There's safety in not trying. It's super comfortable to play it safe. The truth is the safety net that fear keeps us in, is false. Isn't it just as scary to think of a lifetime where we don't live out our dreams? Successful people embrace the fact that fear is part of growth. It's facing the fears that lead to a resilient way of life. We'll face the challenge and when we get knocked down, we get back up again.

Leading With Problem-Solving Is Easy

Waking up with a fresh outlook sounds good. What if a problem persists? It's in our nature to solve it, and we benefit from facing problems head-on. Problem-solving is a natural human trait. It's about survival, we must figure our way through things. In ancient times, if we didn't, the unthinkable would happen. The problem with problem-solving for humans is that we tend to overcomplicate it. Researchers explain that people are more likely to add features rather than solutions that simplify the problem. The good news here is that we can make it easier to lead the day with a problem-solving mindset. When we look for the simplicity of a solution vs. the complexity of the problem. It makes getting up out of bed each day a delight. There are things that help us develop a problem-solving mindset, and it isn't rocket science. We tend to overlook developing our natural problem-solving abilities. Solving problems may be overwhelming. The uncertainty of challenges is hard to face. There are a few things to focus on to help lead the day with a problem-solving mindset, they are: Ask curious questions: Ask questions from a place of curiosity. This alleviates the pressure of getting it right. Explore the 'what if' of any problem, this may lead to a simple solution or at least the next curious question. Leading with problem-solving means leading with curiosity. Embrace imperfection: Explore solutions with permission to get it wrong. Embrace imperfections. This takes the fear factor out of it. Think of problem-solving and exploring solutions. They don't need to be perfect, they simply need to be. Every day is a fresh start, and we can break that down even further into moments. Every moment is an opportunity to make a decision, take on a challenge and try something new. It doesn't need to be perfect.

Trust the New Day

Waking up with the mindset that every day is a new start. It's easy when we understand how to use resilience and problem-solving as part of the solution. It may take practice to make small changes along the way at first. When we start to see challenges as the way forward toward our goals, life gets interesting. Imagine the lessons that come with overcoming setbacks. See bumps in the road as a way forward not as an endpoint. Building resiliency isn't about doing things that aren't scary. It's about being scared and doing it anyway. When we're looking for a way forward in life, we get to start each day new. Wake up, and ask curious questions that lead us closer to our goals.