"Thinking flexibly and simply changing your perspective - that's part of it!"

"Regardless of whether uncertainty reigns and surprise breaks in, I look at what is possible and take the next step in a focused and proactive way!"

"Opportunities lie outside the familiar!"

Mentally agile personalities sound like this or something similar. But is it as simple as it sounds?

How humans react to setbacks

How do you feel when you experience setbacks, when uncertainty reigns or surprise destroys planning? The first reaction is quite normal - stress, accompanied by an emotional cocktail of frustration, disappointment, self-doubt, fear or anger. This initial stress reaction is important and serves as a warning signal. Even though the days of the sabre-toothed tiger are long behind us, the human alarm system still works in the same way: when we perceive a psychological or physical threat, we switch to fight or flight mode, our body activates all physical resources, blood and oxygen are drawn from the neocortex and our clear thinking is restricted. Mental agility, i.e. thinking freshly and creatively about new possibilities, would take too much time in acute emergencies and is therefore blocked in the brain.

In view of the challenges we face at work, the "sabre-toothed tiger" reaction pattern is not very helpful. The decisive factor is therefore how quickly we can get out of stress mode and back into mental strength and creative power after the "hello wake-up call" - after a few hours, minutes or perhaps just seconds?

It's about the speed of recovery. What can we do to increase this and regain our mental agility?

Recognize and break through negative thought patterns

Awareness of your own negative thought patterns that keep you in stress mode is required. It's about recognizing your own saboteurs and consciously letting them go!

When you're under pressure, does an automatic thought process kick in that whispers to you that you're not good enough and drives you to become even better - with great emotional and mental energy expenditure?

Do you go into "controller mode" and bite down hard, or into "avoidance mode" and duck away?

Or does an automatism set in that makes you give up because "it's no use anyway and I'm going to lose anyway!"?

It is crucial that we become aware of our thinking and emotional highway as a pattern of failure and let it go.

This lays the foundation for agility: the decisive factor is whether we fight against the reality we are confronted with or whether we accept and shape it as a gift and an opportunity. In the first case, the stress mode remains our companion; in the second case, we are in our mental power and can activate our strengths. Mental agility is the mindset that makes this possible.

The attitude of mental agility means taking a fresh look at things and asking ourselves: What can I learn from this? What does the situation inspire me to do? What is possible now?

Positive thinking increases opportunities

It has been scientifically proven: Those who think positively and go through the world with a view of possibilities not only feel better, but also perceive more possibilities. This is popularly known as the "self-fulfilling prophecy". From a neuroscientific perspective, we have the choice of activating the stress region of the brain and seeing more and more problems by adopting a negative mindset, or activating our creative center and discovering opportunities by adopting a positive mindset. The perspective we adopt is the basis for our reaction. Anyone who adopts the attitude "I can make something good out of anything and simply explore how this can be done" is making a conscious decision for mental agility.

What does agility have to do with personality?

There are people who are naturally keen to learn and enjoy change and new things, people for whom mental agility is normal. Others need a high degree of stability and security and value planning and reliability. For them, mental agility is less pronounced.

But the good news is that mental agility can be trained.

Regardless of age, our brain can continuously change and adapt to external influences and demands - the scientific term for this is "neuroplasticity". By practising new behaviors and reaction patterns, we build up new neuronal networks over time. The same happens when we make a positive attitude and the conscious question "What is possible now?" part of our routine. Over time, new neuronal pathways are created that weaken and replace old reaction patterns and stress automatisms. This neuronal muscle training only requires a conscious decision for a positive mindset and perseverance.

First step towards more mental agility

The whole thing is easier when you are energized. So pay attention to your resources, whether through sleep, nutrition or activities that are good for you and give you back energy.

Here are some first steps to strengthen and build mental agility. C-A-S-E can serve as a mental aid. You can tackle any situation successfully with mental agility.

C for opportunity
Train the view of opportunity! The agile perspective means that "every situation is a gift and an opportunity"; this is not automatically there, but needs to be explored and developed. Ask the question "What is possible now?".

A for inspiration
Draw inspiration from the situation! Focus on your values and your goals and start an action that is very important to you.

S for step
See the current situation as a stage for the next step! Ask yourself what needs to happen so that after a year you can say that you have achieved more than you invested.

E for experimentation
Get out of your routine and try something new! Consciously try out unfamiliar approaches and activities - whether professional or private - outside your comfort zone.

You will realize that the security of habits is not essential for survival. On the contrary: breaking habits opens up new paths for you, makes life more interesting and creates new AHAs. Over time, mental agility will become more and more normal for you and you will deal with uncertainty, surprise and crises in a more focused, calm and effective way - whether the path leads via A or B!

The author

© ICF/Uta Nachbaur

Uta Nachbaur is a coach and trainer at Leadership Choices. She works internationally and across industries with executives on topics relating to communication, leadership and presence, mental strength and positive conflict culture. She is certified by the International Coaching Federation as a PCC and is also a certified mental fitness coach (CPQC) and certified resilience coach (Executive FiRE Index 2.0).