Jim Steele is one of our Eternal Optimists — a dynamic voice in performance psychology and leadership. With decades of experience coaching high-performing teams and individuals, Jim brings energy, insight, and science-backed strategies to everything he does.

In this article, Jim redefines what resilience really means in today’s fast-paced world — not just bouncing back from setbacks, but bouncing forward with purpose, clarity, and strength.

O.K. so let’s be real for a minute.

Resilience gets tossed around in the business world like it’s a badge of honour “just tough it out,” “dig deeper,” “power through.”
But that’s not resilience. That’s a fast track to burnout.
Resilience isn’t about enduring more, it’s about adapting more!

Building the mental, physical, and emotional capacity to navigate pressure and come out stronger on the other side. That’s the foundation of what I explore in my book Unashamedly Superhuman. How to access elite performance while protecting the human behind it. 

Here’s are a few science-backed tips and tricks.

Step 1: Aim Up and Become Better

Resilience starts with direction. With purpose. With belief.

When people feel like they’re moving toward something meaningful not just reacting to chaos they show up differently. Becoming better isn’t about perfection. It’s about intentional, incremental improvement and it creates momentum.

Resilience Hack: Future Visualization

Just 3 minutes visualising yourself handling pressure, staying calm in the storm and delivering your best trains your nervous system to treat those moments as familiar. The brain doesn’t distinguish between real and vividly imagined experiences, so this primes you for performance.

Resilience Hack: Micro Wins. Celebrate outcome AND effort.

Your brain is wired to spot threats. Being resilient is about shifting our attention from outcome to progress. 

Try this: At regular intervals during the day, mid-morning, lunchtime and mid-afternoon, take just one minute to reflect on either a win achieved or recognise the effort that you’ve put in. This small habit boosts dopamine and reinforces forward momentum even on the tough days.

Step 2: Build SMARTER Minds

In Unashamedly Superhuman, I wrote:

“Self-regulation is about rewiring our relationship with stress, so it becomes a source of energy, not exhaustion.”

That’s the heart of mental resilience, learning to work with your biology, not against it.

Resilience Hack: Mindset Reframe

Difficult situation? Decide there are only two possible outcomes. You’re either going to win or you’re going to learn how to win. Ask yourself: “What’s this here to teach me?” This simple shift activates the brain’s higher reasoning centres, moving you from reactive mode into growth mode. It’s one of the most accessible ways to stay mentally agile. 

Resilience Hack: The Physiological Sigh

This is one of the fastest ways to de-compress and re-set. It’s called the double inhale, extended exhale. Fully inhale through your nose, then take a second shorter inhale on top. Exhale slowly through the mouth. It regulates your nervous system, drops your heart rate, and clears the mental fog. Use it before a tough meeting or right after an adrenaline spike.

Step 3: Become STRONGER from the Inside Out

Energy is the hidden engine behind performance and it’s something you can train, not just manage.

One of the central ideas in Unashamedly Superhuman is that recovery isn’t what you do after the work. It is the work. Without it, performance becomes unsustainable.

Resilience Hack: Ultradian Rhythm Breaks

Science shows your brain works best in 90-minute focus cycles. After that, cognitive fatigue sets in. Insert a 10-minute break to reset your nervous system. Any activity that temporarily quietens the mind. Laptop off, tunes on. Meditate, mindful breathing, whatever floats your boat. These breaks sharpen attention, restore motivation, and reduce burnout risk over time.

Resilience Hack: Active Recovery break 

One of the best ways to reset your physiology is movement, especially outdoors. Just 10 minutes of walking in natural light lowers cortisol, boosts mood, and improves cognitive flexibility. Think of it as a reset button for both brain and body.

Here’s the Bottom Line:

Resilience isn’t about pushing through endlessly.

It’s about building the systems that let you rise, recover, and re-engage.

That’s how we bounce forward.

Better. Smarter. Stronger.Together.

🎥 Want a glimpse of Jim in action? Watch his YouTube showreel here.

Interested in bringing this energy to your team?
If you think Jim — or any of our Eternal Optimists — could add value to your next corporate day, offsite, or event, we’d love to hear from you.

The post Resilience, It’s About Bouncing Forward – By Optimist Performance appeared first on Optimist Performance.

Welcome to this month’s Optimistic Insights, where we’ll delve into the intriguing topic of ego in leadership and the journey towards authentic interactions with others.

Introduction:

Have you ever found yourself in a leadership position, surrounded by success and accolades, only to realise that there’s a sense of dissonance? Perhaps you’ve noticed how easily people laugh at your jokes or agree with your decisions. The truth is, success can inflate our egos, leading us down a path of illusion rather than authentic leadership.

The Illusion of Success

The inflated ego that often accompanies success—the corner office, the higher salary, the easy laughs—can lead us to believe we’ve found the ultimate key to leadership. However, this perception can be deceiving. As we rise in the ranks, we acquire more power. And with that, people are more likely to want to please us by listening more attentively, agreeing more, and laughing at our jokes. All of this tickles the ego. And when the ego is tickled, it grows.

Deflating the Ego and Journeying to Authentic Leadership

In our fast-paced professional environments, the ego can often wield significant influence, shaping our interactions, decisions, and ultimately, our leadership style. However, left unchecked, our ego can hinder our ability to connect with others authentically and lead with integrity.

In a 2018 Harvard Business Review article (read the full article HERE) the dangers of an inflated ego were explored, shedding light on how it can narrow our perspective, distort our behavior, and erode trust within teams. But it’s not all bad, because recognising and managing our egos is the first step we take in cultivating authentic leadership.

Self-Assessment: How Does Your Ego Show Up?

To help you on this journey of self-discovery, we’ve included a brief self-assessment for you to reflect on how your ego manifests in your daily interactions. Take a moment to consider the following questions:

1. Do you find yourself seeking recognition or validation for your accomplishments?
2. How do you respond to feedback or criticism? Do you tend to become defensive or open-minded?
3. Are you able to acknowledge and learn from your mistakes, or do you feel the need to always be right?
4. Do you prioritise collaboration and team success, or are you primarily focused on individual achievements?
5. How do you handle situations where others outshine you or receive praise for their contributions?

Cultivating Authenticity: Practical Tips

As you reflect on your responses to the self-assessment, consider incorporating the following tips into your leadership approach:

• Practice active listening and empathy to foster genuine connections with your team members.
• Embrace vulnerability by admitting mistakes and seeking input from others.
• Prioritize the collective success of the team over individual recognition.
• Foster a culture of trust and collaboration by encouraging open communication and feedback.

Closing Thoughts

Authentic leadership is not about having all the answers or projecting a flawless image; it’s about showing up as your true self and inspiring others to do the same. As you embark on this journey of self-reflection and growth, remember that every step forward, no matter how small, brings you closer to becoming the leader you aspire to be.

Thank you for joining us on this exploration of ego and authenticity in leadership. We look forward to continuing this conversation with you. Drop us a line via explore@optimistperformance.com or start a discussion on social media; Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Let’s make sure you’re smashing it. 

To thrive together, The Optimist Team 💪

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If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that no matter how much we try to avoid uncertainty in our life, we can never escape it. The reality is that so many things are out of our control but will impact our lives. 

You have probably heard this a million times before. Still, by way of example, when I played rugby for England, we used the phrase “getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable”, and this is exactly what being antifragile means. Back then, it meant getting our heart rates up before training to get comfortable with that level of stress.

While I am not expecting people in the office to get their heart rates up intentionally, we can still train ourselves to be comfortable with uncomfortable situations. 

A great example of this is Netflix and their monkey chaos strategy. “The team created a custom tool that was explicitly designed to cause chaos in their system at unexpected times, popping out of no-where and wreaking havoc in their network.”

What does antifragility mean?

Nassim Nicholas Taleb came up with the term antifragile in 2012, describing it as “things that gain from disorder.” 

Being antifragile is different from being resilient because you don’t only recover from adversity; you actually get better by it. Considering the times we live in, it seems we could all benefit from being more antifragile both in our professional and personal lives.

In the book Ikigai, the authors describe 3 things we can do as individuals to become more antifragile: 

• Create more options, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
• Bet conservatively in certain areas and take many risks in others. 
  • Taking small risks that might lead to great rewards.
• Get rid of the things that made you fragile. Setting good riddance goals. 

These tips are incredibly useful for any individual, but if we want to become antifragile in every aspect of our lives, we’ll need to shift our mindset. 

You can read more about ikigai here.

How can we shift our mindsets to become more antifragile?

This can seem challenging, but the reality is we already are more antifragile than we think. How our bodies react when doing weights is a great example of physical antifragility. We create a stressor in our bodies, and our bodies get better by it. (You can read more about stress, our bodies and antifragility here)

The same can be said about our minds; the majority of us learn and grow from challenges. Google did a thought experiment called “The eraser test”, where they asked people if they would erase the traumatic events in their lives, consequently erasing all that came from those events too. A surprising 99.99% of people said they wouldn’t erase it. The reality is that those challenges make us learn and grow. 

So, how can we shift our mindsets? We can use stoicism as an example. The stoic put themselves in difficult situations even when they aren’t real, just to get comfortable with it in case the worst scenario happens. For example, they imagine (some even live it for a while) how it would be to be poor even if they have a very comfortable and wealthy lifestyle. 

We can use this tool for ourselves and our teams too. We can imagine challenging situations and explore how they would make us feel and how we would act. We can also put ourselves in difficult but controlled situations to get used to that uncomfortable feeling. This is what getting our heart rates up did to my rugby team: it prepared us for real games. 

So, how can we build an antifragile team?

Create trust. Trust is, for me, the most important ingredient to building an antifragile team. By creating trust, people will feel more comfortable dealing with the unexpected, making mistakes or raising concerns. 

Mistakes are a good thing. While no one wants to make mistakes, we can’t always avoid them, and the reality is that we shouldn’t either. By making mistakes (as long as they are not exponential), we can learn and grow. 

Allow space for innovation. The more restricted we are in our teams, the bigger the chance that a small change will disrupt them. However, if we continually strive for innovation, we will be more accustomed to uncertainty as part of the process. 

Read more about how to look at uncertainty the Optimist way. 

Reduce the resistance to change. According to the change management theory, our resistance to change has to be lower than the effort that change will demand. If we work on making change normal, we will decrease our resistance to change. 

Take small risks. Become used to risks. In business and life, there will always be a certain amount of risk; this, however, increases exponentially in uncertain times. If we continually take small and controlled risks, we will get comfortable with them. 

The optimist view…

The question “what would happen if I get hit by a bus tomorrow” aims to help prepare the team for any unpredictable challenge. I still look both ways when crossing the road, but my goal is that everyone in the team becomes comfortable with taking risks, making decisions and taking ownership of their roles. 

At Optimist Performance, we work with businesses to explore, engage with and evolve their team values, behaviours and culture. It’s an iterative and co-creative process so that teams are committed and involved at every stage of the process, resulting in them being better prepared for uncertainty or the unexpected.  This means that no matter what happens, having built into the process and stress tested along the way, a team’s ability to get comfortable feeling uncomfortable, those involved can be confident and prepared for what happens next.  

Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help you and your team get ready for uncertainty and change.

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We are living in an unprecedented situation. We are constantly dealing with change and uncertainty, but we are also facing new opportunities every day. Are you ready to reimagine the world?

Reimagining the world

Crisis and tough circumstances tend to have an empowering effect on people, careers, and even countries. Some of the biggest companies were created or found their identity during their crisis. 

It is what inspires our creativity and makes us think outside the box. Being uncomfortable and outside our comfort zone can help us grow. 

“You need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable”.

Reality and facts are common to everyone, the only difference is how you perceive and react to them. 

Choosing to be proactive and look at the opportunity is entirely up to you. 

You can evolve and help create the new reality or you can sit back and wait to go back to the old ways and become obsolete by the end of the year. 

A growth mindset and Resilience

“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” (Dweck, 2015)

“Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress—such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves “bouncing back” from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.” (American Psychological Association)

These are, under our current circumstances, the most essential aspects of a leader. 

You are now given the opportunity to create new systems, new ways of working, be more creative, and think differently. Even more important, there are no wrong answers because the truth is we have never been in this situation before. So there are no previous responses, we can come up with our own creative solutions to the problems we are facing. 

Having a growth mindset and being resilient will help you see the opportunities of the future instead of being stuck in the problems of the past. 

How to cultivate a growth mindset

We must stress, this change in mindset is not something that is achieved in a day. It is rather something you need to work on every day, but the results will be with you forever. 

Pay attention to your thoughts. Since a mindset is just a belief, changing your thoughts should be the first step towards a growth mindset. Thoughts create feelings, that become emotions, and these influence your behaviour. This is how important thoughts are but unfortunately, we still don’t give them enough credit.

Focus on the process rather than the outcome, this way you can appreciate all you have done instead of worrying about how much you still need to do. 

Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know, because you have the possibility to learn. Accept that you will need to put time and effort into it but that you are capable of evolving. 

Change doesn’t happen outside, it happens inside. This transformation influences and inspires us to change the outside, but it only happens if you embrace the opportunity to change and improve yourself. Once this happens, great things can be achieved.

The Optimist View…

As Optimists, we believe it is our duty to reimagine the world and create a better and more efficient one. It is not an easy task, but you are not alone either, we would love to help. Are you ready to be part of the change?

At Optimist Performance, we specialise in helping individuals and teams maximise their potential, by supporting them in the rediscovery of their purpose and the realignment of their goals and values, to ensure the delivery of long-lasting behavioural change.  

Get in touch with us and learn more about how we can help you or your team with our executive coaching or leadership development programmes.

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What exactly is Optimist Performance?

We inspire businesses and teams to exceed their potential in the areas of Teamwork, Leadership, Resilience and Change.

What makes it different?

Professional rugby and my many adventures have taught me huge amounts about these intangible things. Crucially, though, working at PWC I’ve also learnt how powerful they can be in the corporate world. If they’re harnessed into words, values and actions they create a winning culture. So I’ve set up Optimist Performance to help businesses and teams do that, and smash their potential.

How does it work?

Firstly, we don’t like to label what we do just ‘motivational speaking’ because it’s more of a two-way street than that. Typically we work with clients through three phases:

1. Inspiration – we challenge you to think about how you’re operating
2. Exploration – together we find out more about you, your goals and how you’re set up to achieve them
3. Implementation – we help you define and grow the culture, behaviour and processes to succeed

How long does it take and what does it cost?

Ultimately you decide because we can find options to match each need and budget. Some companies like to try us for size with a 1-hour ‘inspire’ pep talk or half-day seminar. Others book whole days or even weekend workshops away. We will end up seeing most clients a few times over four to six months.

Who are your clients?

I have worked with many companies across various sectors, including Google, Accenture, Tesco, Schlumberger, Gatorade, UBS Wealth management, AJG, Clear Channel, Casewise, TBWA and Dark Horses.

Going forward, other speakers and mentors will come in under the Optimist Performance umbrella, broadening the client base but also – crucially – giving all of our clients a wealth of content and case studies, which we will make exclusively available to them.

How do we start?

Click here to Contact Ollie at Optimist Performance now!

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