Focus your mind on the clarity and conviction of why you do what you do. Pause to evaluate where you are now and reflect on how you got to his point. Question what is causing you concern and search for evidence as to whether your thoughts are true right now. Remind yourself of your higher purpose, stay true to your intents and ground yourself with your vision. Put this in writing to get it out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
Resilience has been described as the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Times are not easy now. How do we develop greater resilience to withstand the challenges that keep being thrown at us? In this interview series, we are talking to mental health experts, authors, resilience experts, coaches, and business leaders who can talk about how we can develop greater resilience to improve our lives.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacquie Case.
Jacquie is a Life Changes Consultant based in the UK who helps her clients to pause for just a second and ask themselves, “Who and what would you be if you could rewrite your life?”
She is a Master NLP Practitioner (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and specialist in IEMT (Integral Eye Movement Therapy), Hypnotherapy, RST (Rapid Solution Therapy) and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Jacquie guides “life-changers” through her 6 E’s To Success process from Evaluation through to Empowerment. She works both online and face-to-face with her clients in a safe space to overcome thoughts and emotions which are preventing personal growth, developing positive connections to the self, and creating a compelling future through building resilience and a strategy for success.
Her website is www.jacquiecase.com
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?
My career began in the hair and beauty industry, and I was successful in becoming a highly qualified stylist and trainer with L’Oreal Professional and Toni & Guy. I found that my clients relaxed with me as their sounding board, and with time I wanted to offer them insight that would help them to become more confident and resilient from the inside out. Now as a Life Changes Consultant I see my client’s self-esteem grow based on a foundation that goes beyond a personal makeover. When I chose my career as a life coach, I wanted to give my clients the tools and techniques that will help them to overcome fear, to find their sense of direction, combat their self-doubt and negative self-talk, and to empower them to be their best version of themselves both internally and externally. I have cruised the world in my former career and met all kinds of people in the process. Therefore, I have learned that we all have the same basic needs and insecurities. I began my career as a life changes consultant by attending a free training event for coaches which led to attending a learning retreat, followed by a six-month course. My education has opened me up to possibilities that conversations can have to make massive perspective shifts and how the mind when exercised becomes a powerful muscle.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
I can tell when someone feels like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Burden can affect body posture and skin tone. When I first met one of my clients who has symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she was reluctant and skeptical. This was due to previous experiences and trauma. We worked together during several sessions to timestamp her emotions from her memories. It was a challenge to work with her online via video calls, but we established a strong connection and level of trust. After the sessions I could see the colour come back into her skin and her body posture changed. She had a nervous smile and a look of liberation across her face. I learned through this experience to demonstrate empathy and use my emotional intelligence online without meeting in person. However, I am looking forward to my new face-to-face “Empowerment and Self-Development Workshop”.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
My ‘6 Es To Success’ process is simple, memorable and makes me unique. Emotional health can be a taboo subject, so I want my company and brand to be inviting and approachable. This is demonstrated by my Pop Art branding. My 6 E’s include Evaluation, Empathy, Experience, Energy, Encouragement, and Empowerment. This easy to follow 6 E process takes you from the moment you assess your life, to reviewing your results, creating meaningful connections with yourself and others, through to becoming the energy you want to attract and building resilience without fear of failure. This is the way to prepare for life changing moments and let your true growth begin from the inside out with positive self-talk and a mindset that motivates. Having a process creates flow and my clients can see where they are and where they want to be. The ownership of their journey is their own empowerment.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I have some amazing people around me as mentors and cheerleaders. My father has always been an enormous influence in my life, especially when it concerned my education. If my school report was marked with B or C grades, he would say, “Not good enough,” which does sound harsh. However, it was his way of encouraging me and I still have the drive to learn and succeed today. That educational carrot in front of me makes me strive for more. Dad said, “As long as you have tried 100%, I cannot ask for anything more.” Influences within my business network over the years have opened my eyes to exciting opportunities and close colleges have allowed me to stay grounded. I believe that we should create magnetic energy and knowing this has helped me to make connections that have become good friends in my inner circle.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the trait of resilience. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?
Resilience is both the strength to make changes in your life and the ability to adapt and adjust your coping strategies accordingly. It is grounded within your mindset, mental health, and emotional wellbeing. As human beings nothing motivates us more than pain and pleasure. We will make every effort to avoid pain and we seek out pleasure even if the results end in a negative impact. This flight from pain is related to the flight, fight, and freeze reactions within us. Learning to understand these emotions more can be the answer to building your resilience to the future. Truly resilient people are not afraid to fail, they stop, address their circumstances, take a breath and forge ahead with an extra dose of learning.
Courage is often likened to resilience. In your opinion how is courage both similar and different to resilience?
Both courage and resilience are an inside job that cannot be created from external sources. Courage for me is a state of mind that results from a strong sense that you will survive no matter what. This inner strength is the culmination of your experiences and resilience. Resilience is the ability to believe in yourself and to bounce back from adversity. When we are younger, we think that we have all the answers, however throughout life we learn from experience through different emotions. With time comes more knowledge, strength, resilience, and courage. Courage is the flame that lights our path as we strive for more without fear.
When you think of resilience, which person comes to mind? Can you explain why you chose that person?
I admire people from previous generations who did not have access to the technology that we have today. People who have become successful despite obstacles like my own dyslexia such as Dean Graziosi have also influenced me. These people do not let things stop them and as a life changes consultant I can see the turning points in their life. They are resilient. My 6 E’s focus on this type of empowerment and the ability to take advantage of the opportunities available.
Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us?
I had a teacher when I was young who said to my parents that I would come to nothing. I was undeterred by this and became successful in the hair and beauty industry almost overnight. With passion and dedication so much is possible that we need to dare to dream. I always have this negative teacher’s remark in the back of my mind and how wrong she was.
Did you have a time in your life where you had one of your greatest setbacks, but you bounced back from it stronger than ever? Can you share that story with us?
I purchased a new house a long time before becoming a Life Changes Consultant and found myself one day walking around the supermarket with £5 in my pocket for my food. I was still working in the hair and beauty industry and the owner of the salon where I was employed at the time fell into bankruptcy. I discovered when I arrived at work that the salon was empty and closed overnight without warning. Once people in the industry heard I was looking for work I quickly got another job. I realised then that sometimes your reputation precedes you and that makes a difference. I was extremely grateful for my skills and the friendships that I had made along the way.
How have you cultivated resilience throughout your life? Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share a story?
I have always been a good communicator with the spoken word, but I get flustered with spelling. I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was younger, but I have gained a full teaching qualification and so much more. I make mistakes; however, I have not let that stop me from trying anything I put my mind to.
Resilience is like a muscle that can be strengthened. In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone can take to become more resilient? Please share a story or an example for each.
- Focus your mind on the clarity and conviction of why you do what you do. Pause to evaluate where you are now and reflect on how you got to his point. Question what is causing you concern and search for evidence as to whether your thoughts are true right now. Remind yourself of your higher purpose, stay true to your intents and ground yourself with your vision. Put this in writing to get it out of your head and onto a piece of paper.
- Replace your well-being comfort blanket with a go-to self-improvement strategy. Create an action plan and a gratitude journal with strategies that you can use now and in the future. Get to the root of your self-doubt and change the way you speak to yourself as you are always listening. Replace negative words with positive statements.
- Seek out healthier lifestyle options to create inner strength from the inside and out. Have a structure to your day with morning intentions and close your day down with appreciation. Drink plenty of water regularly, sleep enough, exercise and make sure that you get daylight and fresh air. Remember your mind and body are always in communication.
- Accept help, ask for support, and learn from those who rise above their fear of failure. Surround yourself with people who motivate and bring out the best in you. Asking for help is a sign of strength and can also be achieved through personal development both in reading and watching videos. Remind yourself that it is okay to face your fears, mistakes will help you to learn and grow. Interrupt your thought processes and act immediately to direct you focus towards learning not failing.
- Crush self-doubt and repeat clear-cut affirmations reminding you not to let the bad days win. Challenge your negative thoughts and assumptions. Counteract feelings of doubt and uncertainty with affirmations that build self-esteem and give you a mindset that motivates. An example of an affirmation might be: “I can overcome my fears by following my dreams” — Jacquie Case. “I carry strength and resilience within me, and I can achieve anything.” — https://myinnerstrengths.com/
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I want to help people understand that life does not have to be perfect all the time and that being ‘messy’ helps us learn. I believe that mistakes are necessary and provided they don’t hurt someone, they can be beneficial. Breaking down barriers and lifting the stigma of emotional health struggles is important to me. I’d like to see people feeling able to talk about their emotional health and feeling good about it. I would also like to remove labels within the mental health sphere as everyone is an individual and their experiences are unique. Explanations are necessary but caution is needed if grouping people under one categorisation. Labels can influence people’s belief in themselves and can trigger negative behaviours and make it difficult to have hope for the future.
We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them 🙂
Paul McKenna was the first person who opened my eyes to this industry. I was impressed by the way he explained the mind and its potential. I craved this knowledge which I then developed through methodology used by Tony Robbins and Marisa Peer who came later. If I had lunch with one of these mentors I would ask, “If you started again what would you do differently? How would you describe yourself as a specialist in your field?”
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can find me on Instagram
and LinkedIn
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!