Resiliency is having the ability to deal with life’s challenges, pressures, major changes, and stress.  It is being able to successfully adapt to adversity.  Researchers believe that people have an innate capacity for resiliency that is most effective when they have resiliency-building conditions in their lives.  Resilient individuals and organizations are able to quickly adapt to change; with today’s society being in a state of continuous change, building resiliency is even more important.

Al Seibert, PhD, author of The Resiliency Advantage, states that everyone is born with the potential to develop resiliency.  He describes 5 levels of resiliency:

1. Maintaining Your Emotional Stability, Health, and Well-Being – this level is essential to being able to sustain your health and energy.
2. Focus Outward: Good Problem Solving Skills – the focus of this level is outside of oneself on the challenges that must be handled.  This level is based on research findings which concluded that having problem-focused coping skills leads to greater resiliency than emotion-focused coping skills.
3. Focus Inward: Strong Inner "Selfs" – this level focuses inward on the roots of resiliency, including having self-confidence, a strong self-esteem, and a positive self-concept.
4. Well-Developed Resiliency Skills - in this level, the focus is on the skills and attributes found in highly resilient people.
5. The Talent for Serendipity  - the final level is the highest level of resiliency and describes what is possible – the ability to convert misfortune into good fortune, or serendipity.

How Resilient Are You?
Click here to take a quiz and to create a personal resiliency builder for your life.

Sources:  Resiliency in Action, www.resiliency.com; The Resiliency Center, www.resiliencycenter.com; The Resilience Group, www.resiliencegroup.com;