Written By: Jude Walter, Brainfit Director and Auckland based Coach
We often hear about resilience — the ability to bounce back. But what if the real goal isn’t just to recover… but to grow stronger from life’s challenges?
Recently, I was lucky enough to attend a very thought-provoking and insightful workshop by Paul Taylor, who drew from his background in neuroscience, psychology, and military leadership to present a science-based yet practical framework for sustainable peak performance in today’s high-stress world.
He focused on equipping us with practical strategies & tools to build hardiness – the psychological and physiological capacity to grow through stress rather than simply bounce back from it (resilience). At Brainfit, we believe hardiness is an essential trait for maintaining a sharp, healthy brain across your lifespan.
Your brain is your greatest asset, and emerging neuroscience supports a bold truth: developing your ‘hardiness edge’ – not just resilience could be the difference between surviving stress and thriving through it.
What is Hardiness?
Hardiness is the ability to grow through stress. Unlike resilience, which focuses on recovery, hardiness is about transformation.
Psychologist Suzanne Kobasa first coined the term in the 1970s, identifying three key traits in people who remained healthy under high stress:
- Commitment – staying involved rather than withdrawing
- Control – believing you can influence outcomes
- Challenge – seeing change as an opportunity, not a threat
Newer research has added a fourth pillar: Connection — building a strong inner compass and sense of meaning.
Together, these traits make up the foundation of what Paul Taylor calls your ‘hardiness edge’.
Why It Matters for Your Brain
Despite modern comforts, we are facing record rates of stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and chronic disease. Taylor argues this is largely due to:
- Continuous, low-grade stress
- Sedentary lifestyles
- Poor recovery habits (sleep, nutrition, movement)
- Disconnection from controllable psychological tools
Chronic stress isn’t just exhausting — it’s toxic for your brain. Research shows that:
- Stress can shrink your frontal lobes (the brain’s control centre)
- It enlarges your amygdala (the threat detector), making you more reactive
- It increases cortisol, which damages memory and emotional regulation
But hardiness acts like a brain buffer. People high in hardiness:
- Show better cognitive flexibility
- Recover faster from emotional upsets
- Have stronger immune responses and cardiovascular health
- Are less likely to burn out or develop stress-related illness
And here’s the best part — hardiness can be learned. Many of the tools we teach at Brainfit, like attention training, micro-recovery, and brain-friendly habits, also build hardiness. So it’s a double win for memory and mental strength.
How to Build Your Hardiness Edge
Like all things we teach at Brainfit, it doesn’t require a complete life overhaul. Small, consistent habits can rewire your brain for greater adaptability and calm. Here are four science-backed places to start on your hardiness journey:
- Strengthen Your Stress Fitness
Physical exercise is essential for a healthy brain and memory, but adding High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can take it to the next level by improving not just your body’s ability to trigger the stress response, but also to turn it off.
Here’s how it works: When you do HIIT, your body experiences short bursts of intense activity that push your stress response into action (increasing your heart rate, releasing adrenaline, etc.). But what’s unique about HIIT is that it also teaches your body how to recover quickly and efficiently—switching off that stress response and bringing everything back to normal faster. This ability to recover is key for overall stress resilience. HIIT also boosts your heart rate variability (HRV), which is a key sign of how well your body can handle stress and recover from it.
✅ Try This: 30 seconds of fast-paced movement (like sprinting or cycling) followed by 30 seconds of rest, repeated 4-5 times. This helps train your body to not only handle stress but recover from it more effectively.
- Use Micro-Recovery Moments
Stress is the #1 enemy of a good memory. When we’re stressed or anxious, the memory centres of the brain literally shut down to prioritise survival. Short, intentional breaks are not a luxury — they’re brain fuel. Just 5 minutes of movement, hydration, and slow breathing can reboot your nervous system.
✅ Try: Box breathing (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4) for 1–2 minutes.
- Prioritize Major Recovery Moments
Sleep is your memory superpower. When you sleep two very important processes take place:
- Your memories from the day are consolidated into long-term memory
- Toxins (like amyloid plaques) are flushed from your brain before they cause lasting damage
Poor sleep raises cortisol, decreases mood regulation, and increases your risk of disease — all of which undermine your hardiness. So, as with all things brain-related, focus on good sleep hygiene: limit caffeine, keep regular sleep times, and make your bedroom a screen-free zone.
- Train Your Attention
I loved this quote from Paul: “Where your attention goes, energy flows.” Attention is the gateway to a good memory. Without it, we can’t create the memory traces needed for recall. This same ability to direct attention is critical to building hardiness. Being able to shift your attention from internal negativity to constructive action is a core hardiness skill.
✅ Try: When stuck in a loop of overthinking, pause and shift your focus to a physical sensation, a colour in the room, or your breath.
✅ Try: Keep a daily gratitude journal. This simple habit can enhance optimism, mental wellbeing, and emotional regulation.
- Practice Mental Framing
Did you know your brain can’t tell the difference between real life and mental imagery? Mental rehearsal is a research-backed strategy for improved performance and stress handling. When you mentally rehearse something repeatedly, your brain and memory form a ‘map’ making the real thing easier and less stressful. From a hardiness perspective, mental framing and positive self-talk help you lead with strength, even under pressure. Taylor reminds us that hardy people don’t ignore difficulty — they just frame it differently.
✅ Try: Next time you’re under pressure, ask:
“What’s in my control here?”
“What strength can I use?”
“What can I learn from this?”
Final Thought: You Get to Choose
Stress is part of life – but how we respond to it isn’t fixed. We need some stress to thrive – it drives growth, performance, and purpose. But as Taylor reminds us, “Every day, you get to choose which version of yourself shows up.” With small, science-backed shifts, you can build your hardiness edge, strengthen your memory, and protect your brain for life.
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