UAE: Losing It At Work? You Might Have Hit Your 'Resilience Ceiling'

For plenty of people, getting frustrated at work is not unusual. Most suppress those emotions and carry on, but some reach a point where they completely lose it, in a concept that a leading psychologist calls 'resilience ceiling'.

Tasha Eurich, an organisational psychologist and New York Times bestselling author, explained the concept at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Leadership Forum on Wednesday.

Resilience ceiling, a term coined by Eurich herself, is when a person reaches or pushes past their limit with what they can endure.“(It's) when we have been so strong for so long that we can no longer keep it up, we all have a limit,” she said.

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When one hits their resilience ceiling, Eurich explained that it comes with exhaustion and shame. Exhaustion, for reaching the breaking point; and shame, for feeling insecure and not mentally tough.

Eurich is a business coach, and one day was told by an executive of how he reached his limit. She recalled how the leader is usually calm and collected, but that one day when he received unpleasant news, began yelling at people.“That is what hitting your resilience ceiling feels like. It feels like you're okay, or you're getting by until the second that you're not,” Eurich said.

She added,“Real strength means never stopping. But again, if we're feeling like we're hitting our resilience ceiling, if we're feeling like we're running out of resilience or running low, that's not a weakness or a failure. It's a warning.”

Grit gaslighting

Eurich also introduced another concept she calls 'grit gaslighting'. This happens when people, whether leaders, colleagues, or even parents and teachers, shame themselves or others into pushing harder even when they are already exhausted.“We shame ourselves into pushing through, even when we're depleted,” she explained.“That isn't strength. It is a warning signal.” Anyone who has ever been told to“toughen up” instead of being supported will recognise this feeling.

Another challenge Eurich highlighted is the self-awareness gap. While most people think they know themselves well, research shows that only 15 per cent truly do.“Ninety-five per cent of leaders believe they are self-aware, but the real number is just 15 per cent,” she said.“Leaders who lack self-awareness are 600 per cent more likely to derail.”

This issue is not just for executives. It affects everyone, from managers who overestimate how well they communicate, to friends or family who misjudge the impact of their words.

Her solution is what she calls shatterproof leadership. This approach focuses on transforming challenges rather than just enduring them.“Shatterproof leaders do not wait for the world to break them down. They see disruption as a signal and chaos as a catalyst,” she said.

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