Unlocking resilience in times of uncertainty

You’ve been through uncertain times before… and you can do it again.

It’s been five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a moment that reshaped our world in ways we never anticipated. And yet, in many ways, we find ourselves facing a new wave of uncertainty— from economic turbulence to political unrest, from job losses to shifts in funding and leadership. The feeling of navigating the unknown is unfortunately way too familiar.

But one thing I know for certain is... we are not powerless in times of disruption.

Read on to learn about the workshops I’ve developed and led for professionals working in diverse roles at all stages of their career at the Johns Hopkins University... they grounded themselves in our shared safe space, laid down their worries and dug deep for the strength to courageously design their way forward in the midst of uncertainty, and showed themselves that they could come out stronger for it.

How might cultivating resilience in these uncertain times through workshops or coaching support you in living your best, most fulfilling life?

Book a 30-min Purpose Callwith me to explore what’s possible.

Dr. Nicole Ja, PhD, Mighty Catalyst Founder

More on digging deep and coming out stronger for it…

During the pandemic, I had the privilege of helping professionals at every level — executives, mid-career leaders, and early-career professionals — design their way through uncertainty.

As an Executive Education Faculty of Innovation and Human-Centered Design at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, I developed and taught a course called, Designing Personal Change, in which we applied design thinking to personal and professional development. I leveraged my expertise in developmental psychology, ecological systems, self-development, and motivation, integrating research-backed insights with design thinking approaches to equip professionals with a fresh perspective and tools to help them adapt, reimagine, and move forward during one of the greatest disruptors of our time. Those in my classes often included leaders and life designers from the Johns Hopkins University Life Design Labwho had the important job of bringing life design to undergraduate students.

As the pace of life gets faster and our problems get sticker, these are basic skills everyone should be equipped with. And Johns Hopkins is not the only academic institution investing in cultivating these skills for its students and professionals - Stanford, Tulane, and others are too.

So, if you’d like to explore how life design can leverage the capacity of your students, clients, leaders, or other professionals at your university, college, institution, organization, or company, reach out.

Read on to learn more about other ways I’ve tried to cultivate impact by sharing these tools and approaches…

Did you know?

My team and I have had the privilege of developing and facilitating a Design Sprint for the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics as they brought together neuroscientists, bioethicists, and public stakeholders to re-imagine how to “Make Neuroscience Socially Relevant”? We also evaluated their design process to help them tell their story of how they brought diverse stakeholders together to identify a shared purpose and engage them in an approach that fostered collaborative innovation. Learn more about it on the JHU School of Bioethics site here.

In your own words

Life Design has the potential to ignite our inner force and supercharge our purpose. And this potential was realized as I delivered a Human-Centered Design, Life Design, and Research Methods workshop and training to community health workers, or Promotores. If you’ve never heard or want to learn more about Promotores and how they create impact, check out this great piece by First 5 LA on the power of Integrating the Promotores Model to Strengthen Community Partnerships.

Here’s an example of one of the many beautiful artifacts that was birthed from this process which helped ground and guide this small but mighty team in their quest for community transformation.

I’m going to let their work and transformation do the talking… this is the story, both the visual and the narrative, of how one Promotore viewed his purpose…

“The shadow of the tree is the shadow of my mentors leading me, always moving with dreams and illusions. There are mountains we need to climb (uphill and downhill with obstacles) - I like when I reach the summit. At night I like to reflect on the positives and the negatives, and dream about the projects I need to take on. The sun offers clarity. The universe is represented with everyone working together on their projects. There is an intergenerational component, guiding lights, and connection to the universe. It’s easier to understand the problem when you connect it to nature. Time is expansive because it’s all the way back and all the way into the future.”

What an amazing example of what’s possible, but what’s not always included or tapped into, when we talk about work. Need I say more? It’s just too good. If you, your team, or organization want to experience this type of transformation and personal storytelling, let’s talk.

What’s coming up…

Next month I’ll be delivering a part of the Design Thinking for Personal and Professional Growth course for the UC Berkeley Prytanean Women’s Honor Society, the oldest women’s honor society in the United States (founded in 1901) that honors, supports, and brings women together around community service, scholastic achievement, and leadership.

I had the privilege of serving as the Collegiate Liaison to the Prytanean Board when I was an undergrad at UC Berkeley - I led community service events that brought together undergrads and alums around our shared love for community service, and I have to add, was showered with so much love, support, and guidance from the Prytanean alums that (fast forward X amount of years!), I’m now inspired to pay it forward…

… and as a new Prytanean Board member, that’s not hard to do given how incredibly amazing these young extremely bright students are - they are already doing SO much at such a young age, have already-shaped ideas of the change they want to see in the world, and I KNOW - without a doubt - that they’ll make it happen.

This is the tip of the ice berg, people. Stay tuned for more.