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The difference between endurance and resilience
Is endurance better than strength and resilience?
Endurance vs. resilience training
The role of work-life balance and resilience
A balance for a better level of resilience
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Jump to section
The difference between endurance and resilience
Is endurance better than strength and resilience?
Endurance vs. resilience training
The role of work-life balance and resilience
A balance for a better level of resilience
Good things take time. Whether you’re training for the Olympics, saving for a house, or moving your business to New York, you’re committing to ambitious multi-year goals.
And, in your pursuits, you’ll inevitably encounter tough times. You’ll experience moments where nothing seems to be going your way, as if the world is conspiring against you.
In these moments, it’s easy to feel trapped between two options: quit or endure.
On the one hand, quitting isn’t inherently bad — sometimes, it’s necessary for your wellness. In fact, 1 in 4 American workers quit their jobs for mental health reasons, according to a recent poll.
On the other hand, you can endure until you reach your goal. You do run the risk of harming your physical and mental health, as chronic stress takes a toll and can potentially lead to burnout.
But this kind of binary thinking will likely exacerbate your woes. Instead, let’s look at a third option: developing your resilience.
Endurance might seem like the more noble path forward. But resilience encourages you to develop your elasticity in tandem with your well-being.
Let’s take a look at the differences between endurance vs resilience. Once you’re aware of how they fit in your life, you can decide how to stay motivated — or not — to meet your goals.
Let’s start with some basic definitions:
Both concepts are related to how you deal with difficulty. If you walk down a path uninterrupted, you’ll start to feel tired. Endurance is your push to keep going, despite the fatigue.
Now, let’s say you walk down that same path and encounter a fence. Resilience is your capacity to 1) hop the fence and 2) rest and recover before continuing down the path.
So, which is better: endurance or strength and resilience?
In the world of long work hours and results-oriented offices, resilience wins out as the more desirable personality trait. In fact, it was one of the top soft skills valued by employers in 2021. That’s because resilient people tend to:
Compared to endurance, resilience is a more sustainable way of working — especially if you hope for long-term success. It gives you tools to cope with adversity.
Endurance, on the other hand, encourages you to power through without taking time to rest, which can have serious health consequences.
Let’s use the gym as an example. There’s a reason people have “leg days” and “arm days” for their weight-lifting exercises. Your muscle groups need time to rest in between sessions. Otherwise, you risk muscle sprains, tendonitis, stress fractures, and chronic joint pain.
It’s a similar story for your mental health. If you push through without resting, you open yourself up to chronic stress. If left untreated, this can also lead to negative health symptoms like:
When deciding where to put your energy, you would do well to build resilience. It’s a healthier way to deal with the stresses of work and will serve you better in the long run.
Here’s what you can do to build a resilient mindset and hone this skill:
BetterUp can help you improve your resilience. Through one-on-one sessions with our coaches, we can go over your strengths, weaknesses, and work habits. Together we’ll find how you can thrive in any situation.
One of the easiest ways to improve your resilience is to improve your work-life balance. This means making time for your hobbies, interests, and connections outside of work. Here are some of the benefits of striking the right balance:
All of these benefits tie into improved resilience in life and at work. Better work-life balance helps you feel more confident that you can overcome it.
Finding time for self-care can feel impossible when you’re used to extra-long work weeks. Here are some tips that can help:
At the end of the day, resilience is meant to curb the negative effects of endurance. Your natural tendency to power through can have serious consequences if left untamed.
These symptoms of burnout are signs you’ve endured too much:
If left untreated, these symptoms can lead to depression and anxiety. Reach out to a mental health professional if you’re struggling to cope. You may also consider requesting stress leave.
It’s tempting to gather your willpower, put your head down, and clench your teeth through adversity. But if you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll flame out or fade out before you achieve your goals. Or, you'll be unable to celebrate and appreciate when you succeed.
That’s why it's important to proactively protect and maintain your well-being while you’re pursuing goals. No matter your goal or personal experiences, your health isn’t worth sacrificing.
Understanding the difference between endurance vs. resilience is a step in the right direction. If you want to develop self-awareness and resilience and build a foundation for life, consider working with BetterUp. Our coaches are here to help you become the best version of yourself, whatever challenges life serves up.
Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.
Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.
Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.
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