The executive has had a tough stretch. 

His daughter is sick, he missed out on a key prospective client, and his top associate is leaving for a rival company.

He’s aggravated, so he routinely begins leaving the office early, having a couple of drinks at night, and staying up too late watching TV.

The executive is what author and CEO Brian Johnson would consider a fragile leader.

“If you’re fragile and life hits you, then you break,” Johnson recently said on The Learning Leader show with Ryan Hawk.

“If you’re resilient and life hits you, you endure more stress, then you bounce back a little quicker after you get knocked down.”

Johnson believes it’s paramount for leaders to develop anti-fragility and form their own personal protocols to navigate inevitable turbulence.  

To him, it starts with taking out a sheet of paper and creating two columns:

1. Do

•Reflecting on the “highlight-reel” versions of ourselves from the past when we were most productive
•Contemplating the habits and actions that we had in place in our lives at the time
•Asking key questions such as: Was I going to sleep at a certain hour? What was I eating? Was I showing up for work at a certain time? 

2. Don’t

•Considering lower moments of our lives when we were bogged down and unproductive
•Reflecting on the many factors that likely kept us stuck in place
•Asking key questions such as: How was I allocating my time? Was I eating unhealthy? Was I getting distracted easily? What were my negative external stimuli?

The point is that when adversity hits, many of us struggle to push through the challenge because we’re simply winging it.

The deeper the analysis we do on ourselves in advance, though, the more likely we are to get through it.

Overcoming hardship isn’t simply about luck, timing, intelligence or good genes.

It’s also about tactful self-reflection — knowing that what stands in our way can quickly be overcome if we first know ourselves.