What do you think?
Rate this book
The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive Under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks
Resiliency—the ability to adapt to life's changes and crises—is key to a healthy, productive life. Based on his deep knowledge of the new science of resiliency, Dr. Al Siebert explains how and why some people are more resilient than others and how resiliency can be learned at any age. Through anecdotes, exercises, and examples, Dr. Siebert details a unique five-level program for becoming more resilient. You’ll learn how
Sustain health, energy, and positive feelings during the worst of times,
Improve your analytical, creative, and practical problem-solving skills,
Strengthen your self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-concept,
Develop the specific attributes and skills found in highly resilient people, and
Sharpen your talent for serendipity—the ability to convert accidents and misfortune into lucky accidents and good fortune.
The Resiliency Advantage will enable you to bounce back quickly from setbacks, gain strength from adversity, and meet life head on.
Sustain health, energy, and positive feelings during the worst of times,
Improve your analytical, creative, and practical problem-solving skills,
Strengthen your self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-concept,
Develop the specific attributes and skills found in highly resilient people, and
Sharpen your talent for serendipity—the ability to convert accidents and misfortune into lucky accidents and good fortune.
The Resiliency Advantage will enable you to bounce back quickly from setbacks, gain strength from adversity, and meet life head on.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
38 people are currently reading
453 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 4, 2008
The author writes in a clear, concise style. He offered a couple of new ideas I had not read before. One I particularly like is his assertion that it is okay to be a pessimist sometimes. It is important to have a blend of optimism and pessimism so that one stays flexible and can see a situation objectively. All the positive thinking of late may be a little unrealistic. Much healthier to be able to balance the two. The book has many exercises at the end of each chapter to help reinforce the chapter concepts. I found most of them busy work and not engaging. Typical professor/teacher giving homework!
May 12, 2016
در بیشتر موارد کتابهای خودیاری خیلی جالب نیستند. در مورد من یکی از دلایلش اینه که این کتابها عموما تمرین و مشق شب دارند!
July 4, 2020
What I liked:
- pretty good read. The author is obviously someone who has thought hard and long about the issue. It reads like a good deep conversation with a wise soul.
What I didn't like:
- there's not much data to back up many of the claims. There were quite a handful of "research shows" without the actual research being referenced. Most of the references in the note were from personal anecdotes. Not to say those aren't valid, but I was disappointed at the lack of data and too much anecdotes
- pretty good read. The author is obviously someone who has thought hard and long about the issue. It reads like a good deep conversation with a wise soul.
What I didn't like:
- there's not much data to back up many of the claims. There were quite a handful of "research shows" without the actual research being referenced. Most of the references in the note were from personal anecdotes. Not to say those aren't valid, but I was disappointed at the lack of data and too much anecdotes
August 2, 2024
Painfully stupid pop-psychology book. The only reason I didn't rate lower is because every once in a while the author does stumble upon a gem of a sentence, like a blind miner hitting around with a hammer in a cave. Otherwise, chock-filled with made-up stories so classic in this type of literature, downright bullshit comparisons with Heisenberg's Principle. A mess and not worth my time but I ain't a quitter.
May 13, 2020
Sometimes difficult to read without a psychology background but very helpful and informative especially in surviving in this current COVID-19 pandemic.
January 21, 2022
Good self help and reflection
This book is recommended by one of my beloved professor for how resiliency is in various case study. Enjoy reading and obtain some food for thoughts!
This book is recommended by one of my beloved professor for how resiliency is in various case study. Enjoy reading and obtain some food for thoughts!
March 19, 2017
For someone who is new to the ideas of resiliency this may be of interest. I would not consider this to be one of the best books on the subject, however, It is easy to follow. My biggest criticism is the lack of scientific evidence to back up the book. Yes, this is a book for general readership. However, there was no bibliography or reference list, merely footnotes for each chapter. +
Read
June 10, 2011Pennebaker reports that all the people in the group who wrote about their feelings said they wished they had written about their feelings sooner. They realized they had not done well in job interviews during the previous year because they had not handled their feelings well. Research with many other groups has documented improved coping abilities when people under pressure write about their feelings regularly. The better you become at being able to recognize, verbalize, and manage your feelings, the less you will be vulnerable to losing emotional control or developing cardiovascular illnesses
Dozens of people who held up well under extreme pressure, in a variety of circumstances, were interviewed by psychiatrist William Glasser to find out how they avoided burnout. He found that most of them had a “positive addiction.” They had a favorite activity such as bike riding or jogging that they felt compelled to do
Few people breathe well. If you look at any group of people, most of their breathing is shallow—even people who drink from bottles of water because they know that keeping our cells hydrated slows aging and sustains energy. Humans can survive for up to five days without water, but less than five minutes without oxygen. Oxygenating your blood and cells is far more important than hydrating them. Breathe.
Analytical intelligence—logic, reason, and abstract thinking used to solve familiar problems
Creative intelligence—used to invent unusual solutions in new and unfamiliar circumstances
Practical intelligence—applied to solving situational, real-life problems. People who are “street smart” are individuals who have practical intelligence, although they may use logical and creative thinking as well.[6
Let’s look closer at the issue of expressing feelings. In the previous chapter on Level One resiliency, the ability to express feelings of distress was described as an important health-enhancing activity. If that is true, why are emotional reactions now described as counterproductive? According to psychologists Annette Stanton and Robert Franz, it is poor timing, amplification of feelings, and disengagement that can make emotional reactions maladaptive. When hit by a crisis, some people disengage from the challenges at hand by amplifying their emotional reactions. It isn’t that reacting emotionally is wrong; they just do it at the worst possible time in the worst possible place. Some people react in dramatic, attention-getting ways at the slightest opportunity and often blame others for causing their feelings.[3]
The most resilient people, in contrast, control their emotional reactions in a crisis, engage the problems, then process their feelings afterward. C. R. Snyder reviewed hundreds of studies about human coping skills. He points out that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping can be mutually facilitating. When both are well done, they enhance each other.[4]
Problem-focused coping starts with examining a situation, developing an accurate understanding of exactly what the problem is, and clarifying what outcomes you want. You consider various ways to get from where you are to where you want to be, select the best choice, and take action. You observe the effects of the action to quickly learn what is working or not working. Then you modify your actions to get the best results.
Dozens of people who held up well under extreme pressure, in a variety of circumstances, were interviewed by psychiatrist William Glasser to find out how they avoided burnout. He found that most of them had a “positive addiction.” They had a favorite activity such as bike riding or jogging that they felt compelled to do
Few people breathe well. If you look at any group of people, most of their breathing is shallow—even people who drink from bottles of water because they know that keeping our cells hydrated slows aging and sustains energy. Humans can survive for up to five days without water, but less than five minutes without oxygen. Oxygenating your blood and cells is far more important than hydrating them. Breathe.
Analytical intelligence—logic, reason, and abstract thinking used to solve familiar problems
Creative intelligence—used to invent unusual solutions in new and unfamiliar circumstances
Practical intelligence—applied to solving situational, real-life problems. People who are “street smart” are individuals who have practical intelligence, although they may use logical and creative thinking as well.[6
Let’s look closer at the issue of expressing feelings. In the previous chapter on Level One resiliency, the ability to express feelings of distress was described as an important health-enhancing activity. If that is true, why are emotional reactions now described as counterproductive? According to psychologists Annette Stanton and Robert Franz, it is poor timing, amplification of feelings, and disengagement that can make emotional reactions maladaptive. When hit by a crisis, some people disengage from the challenges at hand by amplifying their emotional reactions. It isn’t that reacting emotionally is wrong; they just do it at the worst possible time in the worst possible place. Some people react in dramatic, attention-getting ways at the slightest opportunity and often blame others for causing their feelings.[3]
The most resilient people, in contrast, control their emotional reactions in a crisis, engage the problems, then process their feelings afterward. C. R. Snyder reviewed hundreds of studies about human coping skills. He points out that problem-focused and emotion-focused coping can be mutually facilitating. When both are well done, they enhance each other.[4]
Problem-focused coping starts with examining a situation, developing an accurate understanding of exactly what the problem is, and clarifying what outcomes you want. You consider various ways to get from where you are to where you want to be, select the best choice, and take action. You observe the effects of the action to quickly learn what is working or not working. Then you modify your actions to get the best results.
January 13, 2010
What differentiates this text from so many other self-help-type books is the author’s focus on mental health as opposed to mental illness. Al Siebert focuses not on what people do poorly, but on what they do well, and how they succeed. Resiliency, after all, is about finding one’s strengths to overcome challenges; focusing on weaknesses will not allow that to occur. This is a marked shift in perspective from many other texts I have read, and a significant deviation from prevailing psychology theory. Frankly, I find the change refreshing, and far more helpful than what I’ve read elsewhere.
The book provides ample background material to support Seibert’s conception of human resiliency, and then delves into specific methods and exercises for increasing one’s own resiliency. In that sense, the reader is likely to get out of this book what he/she puts in—this is a teaching text, and is best suited to the eager learner. As with any psychological development, there is no quick fix, but Seibert lays the groundwork for a lifetime’s developmental journey in a series of chapters that describe specific concepts and steps.
While Siebert won’t be winning any awards for his writing technique, the text is sufficiently approachable, and complex theories are explained at an introductory level. Siebert makes one of the classic rhetorical mistakes that my students used to make: he includes a wealth of outside research, anecdotes, and evidence to substantiate his claims, but he is not consistent in immediately or fully explaining the relevance of that outside material to the point he wishes to make. The result is that his readers are left, at times, to make their own connections and arrive at their own conclusions—which may or may not accord with the author’s intended message. Nevertheless, while the prose is not artistic, the text is laid out well for the most part, and the subject matter and research are clear and thorough.
Would I recommend the book? Perhaps to a friend facing significant setbacks or challenges, but in general, no. The book is interesting but not compelling, and really warrants being read at the right time and in the right circumstances for full effect.
The book provides ample background material to support Seibert’s conception of human resiliency, and then delves into specific methods and exercises for increasing one’s own resiliency. In that sense, the reader is likely to get out of this book what he/she puts in—this is a teaching text, and is best suited to the eager learner. As with any psychological development, there is no quick fix, but Seibert lays the groundwork for a lifetime’s developmental journey in a series of chapters that describe specific concepts and steps.
While Siebert won’t be winning any awards for his writing technique, the text is sufficiently approachable, and complex theories are explained at an introductory level. Siebert makes one of the classic rhetorical mistakes that my students used to make: he includes a wealth of outside research, anecdotes, and evidence to substantiate his claims, but he is not consistent in immediately or fully explaining the relevance of that outside material to the point he wishes to make. The result is that his readers are left, at times, to make their own connections and arrive at their own conclusions—which may or may not accord with the author’s intended message. Nevertheless, while the prose is not artistic, the text is laid out well for the most part, and the subject matter and research are clear and thorough.
Would I recommend the book? Perhaps to a friend facing significant setbacks or challenges, but in general, no. The book is interesting but not compelling, and really warrants being read at the right time and in the right circumstances for full effect.
January 28, 2018
Dr. Al Siebert is acknowledged as an expert in the field of personal resilience from his research over four decades that included extensive work with survivors of horrific experiences. His book The Survivor Personality https://www.amazon.com/Survivor-Perso... tells the stories and what was learned from the individual experiences described in that book.
In this book he takes you through a quick resilience quiz in chapter two and a quiz in chapter three regarding the differences between internal and external feelings of control. These quizzes provide very helpful context to the reader for the chapters that follow regarding the five levels of resiliency and the three barriers to overcome. At the end of each chapter is a section that provides Resiliency Development Activities.
The quizzes and activities that are provided allow the reader to gain a very personal understanding of the topic of resilience and what to do to create a more resilient response to one's life experiences. I have recommended Dr. Siebert's work to hundreds of individuals with uniformly positive reactions to the material he has provided. This is a very practical and impactful book.
In this book he takes you through a quick resilience quiz in chapter two and a quiz in chapter three regarding the differences between internal and external feelings of control. These quizzes provide very helpful context to the reader for the chapters that follow regarding the five levels of resiliency and the three barriers to overcome. At the end of each chapter is a section that provides Resiliency Development Activities.
The quizzes and activities that are provided allow the reader to gain a very personal understanding of the topic of resilience and what to do to create a more resilient response to one's life experiences. I have recommended Dr. Siebert's work to hundreds of individuals with uniformly positive reactions to the material he has provided. This is a very practical and impactful book.
July 17, 2011
While I enjoyed this book, I liked Siebert's The Survivor Personality a lot more than this book. I thought it was more original and creative – and frankly more in depth. Some of my favorite parts of this book were just rehashed material from The Survivor Personality.
July 13, 2009
A fabulous book about how we can learn during difficult times.
February 18, 2017
Для того чтобы ее дочитать, нужно было созреть)
отличная книга
отличная книга
Read
August 7, 2018逆境を生かす人、逆境に負ける人
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews