Building Resilience ...and the Research Behind the Power of a Good (or Great) Theme Song

In this issue: Building Resilience …and the Research Behind the Power of a Good (or Great) Theme Song / Podcast: Managing Up, Managing Across, and Retaining Your Best Employees/ How to navigate workplace awkwardness/ The Lighter Side of the Power of Music

Why you’re getting this:

I'm Andrea J. Miller and this is my “On Leading Well” Newsletter. I send this to people in my networks, people I’ve met recently, and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can unsubscribe (SEE THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL) anytime, I won’t be offended

Building Resilience …and the Research Behind the Power of a Good (or Great) Theme Song

We’ve all experienced difficult moments.

Times when we’re just not able to be at our best, even when we need to be.

It’s part of life, a reminder of our humanness and our sometimes-faulty OS that’s running the show.

The question is how we will deal with it …and how quickly we’ll be able to rebound if/when things don’t go as planned.

Regular readers of this newsletter know that I’ve had my fair share of “moments” (though I tend to use more colorful language to describe them).

It quickly became apparent that if I was going to make it through with any level of sanity intact (everything is relative), I needed to develop better coping strategies.

I read a lot, and listened to podcasts as well as the people who “knew.”

I worked hard on my fundamentals (diet, exercise, sleep, and connection) to keep going during these difficult times.

But one of my favorite lessons, one that still helps me take my attitude up a notch from surviving to thriving, I learned years before from an old sitcom called Ally McBeal (Google it, you’ll thank me later).

In this great episode, Ally meets with her therapist (the comedian Tracey Ullman), who tells her she needs a theme song, “something you can play in your head to make you feel better.”

It’s that song that gets stuck in your head and lifts you up, maybe even makes you feel a bit invincible.

In a world that can sometimes feel like it’s moving faster than we’d like, and at times in directions that we don’t want to go, a good theme song can serve as an anchor.

Anchoring is a neuro-linguistic programming term that describes the use of something, like music to change our current state, preferably to a more positive one.

Just like a ship’s anchor can prevent a boat from drifting, a personal anchor can help keep us from going too far off course when the seas of life get a bit rough (COVID, a recession, etc, etc.).

It’s a simple concept, the less we drift, the faster we can get back on course.

This helps increase our capacity to rebound from difficult experiences and build up our resilience over time.

The Music of Life

My questionable sitcom-watching habits aside, the research is clear, music has been directly linked to increased wellbeing.

In a review of 26 studies across several countries, researchers confirmed what most of us already intuitively know, music can improve our wellbeing and quality of life.

Beyond the general benefits, the researchers also found that it may also provide a clinically significant boost to mental health.

The late famed neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote, “Music has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.”

This means it not only has the power to improve our mood and energy, it may also make us feel worse, depending on what’s going on in your life

Therefore, like with many things, we need to be intentional about our song selection (or input into your OS) in order to ensure we get the greatest benefits.

So, the next time you’re feeling a bit stressed, overwhelmed, or are just struggling with something at work or home, crank up that theme song, build your resilience, and course correct.

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RECOMMENDED LISTENS, READS And other interesting things

Podcast: Managing Up, Managing Across, and Retaining Your Best Employees:

In this episode, they answer the questions, “Would creating jobs that eliminate tedious administrative work help companies retain workers? What’s the best way to manage up and across?”

How to navigate workplace awkwardness:

“The workplace can be a place of planet-changing ideas and epic rivalries. Day by day, it is a theatre of mild agitation.”

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The Lighter Side of the Power of Music

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Are there any other subjects you want me to cover? Have Questions? … Hit “Reply” and tell me!

I love hearing from you :)!

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If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward to a friend (or 5 :) or someone you feel would benefit from reading it!

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Andrea J. Miller

+1 (646) 556-5401 (Whatsapp)