3 Comments for The Resiliency Advantage: Master Change, Thrive Under Pressure, and Bounce Back from Setbacks

• 1. Uriela  |  November 16th, 2009 at 1:00 am

  Dr. Al Siebert has been a pioneer in helping people move through difficult life circumstances to master adversity and grow stronger from their challenges. In alignment with the great Abraham Maslow, he has taken the road less traveled in psychology by studying what makes people strong rather than focusing on their weaknesses.

  I was blessed to find Dr. Siebert’s earlier book, “The Survivor Personality” at a time when I felt very victimized by the circumstances of my life. This was one of the most inspiring books I read. It helped open my eyes to perceive my challenges in a new way, so that I could move forward in my life journey emerging from my problems with greater well-being.

  Dr. Siebert’s new book, “The Resiliency Advantage,” contains down to earth, practical information that can help anyone overcome setbacks and sudden changes that a person experiences as threatening to their well-being. Without the usual jargon of “psychobabble” or “feel-good” superficial advice that I find impractical or unsustainable, this book will help you see your world through a new lens of resilience, one of the primary concepts in emotional intelligence.

  Dr. Siebert uses wonderful stories to illustrate these ideas and guaranteed to open anyone’s heart.

  My favorite parts of the book are the practical exercises that encourage viewing our challenges from a place of strength and as a path of growth. Investing in this book is worth gold if you would like to move your life out of a suvival mode and into one of thriving and getting better every day. I highly reccommend this book to everyone seeking to make sense of any challenge, both personal and the challenges we face in our world today.

• 2. Oraefo  |  November 16th, 2009 at 2:49 am

  After reading Dr. Al Siebert’s enlightening book, The Resiliency Advantage, I was reminded of the old adage that was often drummed into me by my parents, that our life is not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitudes we bring to life. Thinking positively creates a chain reaction pertaining to our thoughts, events and outcomes-a kind of catalyst that can create extraordinary results.

  Siebert begins his book by telling his readers how he came to the conclusion that clinical psychology and psychiatry are not mental health professions but rather mental illness professions. There does not seem to be any focus on what makes individuals mentally healthy, but rather on what causes mental illnesses and how do we go about treating these illnesses.

  This prompted Siebert to do extensive research as to why some people survive many of life’s ordeals while others seem to continually flounder. As a result of his thirst for knowledge of the subject matter he developed a good understanding of what he calls “the survivor personality.”
  In 1996 he published his first book on the topic, “The Survivor Personality,” and we now have the follow up, The Resiliency Advantage, that reflects the tremendous amount of knowledge Siebert accumulated in his search for the causes and effects of the survivor personality.

  According to Siebert there exist several levels of resiliency that he deals with in depth in his book: optimizing your health, emotions and well-being; developing good problem solving skills; strengthening your inner selfs; unleashing your curiosity and enjoy learning from the school of life; power of positive expectations; integrating paradoxical abilities; allowing everything to work well or the synergy talent; the talent for serendipity.
  In order to reinforce the learning of these principles, Siebert provides many exercises, as well as brief case histories showing just how they work out in practice.

  There is some excellent material in this book, particularly the sections dealing with learning from failures, benefits of curious and playful questioning, the power of positive expectations, hope, optimism, and self-reliance. It is also heartening to learn, as the author points out, that resiliency psychology, a relatively new discipline, is making good progress and is now recognized as quite vital in understanding how it can help people fare better during adversity and recover more quickly from life’s ordeals.

  Writing about new disciplines is always a challenge, given the negative feedback one often receives from the traditionalists. However, Siebert has risen to the occasion with his breezy style of writing, and he admirably presents an accessible work that could have easily strayed, leaving his readers with a sense of boredom.

  Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures

• 3. Emilie  |  November 16th, 2009 at 3:00 am

  +++++

  Self-rate yourself on a scale from 1 (meaning little agreement) to 5 (meaning strongly agree) on the following ten items:

  (1) In a crisis or chaotic situation, I calm myself and focus on taking useful actions.
  (2) I’m usually optimistic, seeing difficulties as temporary and believe things will eventually turn out well.
  (3) I can tolerate high levels of uncertainty and ambiguity.
  (4) I’m good at bouncing back from difficulties and quickly adapt to new developments.
  (5) I’m self-confident and have a healthy concept of who I am.
  (6) I prefer to work without a written job description since I’m more effective when I’m free to do what I think is best in each situation.
  (7) I trust my intuition and “read” people well.
  (8) I’m a good listener and have good empathy skills.
  (9) I’ve been made stronger and better by difficult experiences.
  (10) I’ve converted misfortune into good luck and even found benefits in bad experiences.

  A low score of (under 25) means your resiliency skills are weak and you would greatly benefit from this amazing, easy-to-read, psychobabble-free book by Dr. Al Siebert, a clinical psychologist and Director of “The Resiliency Center”. (`Resiliency’ means (i) coping well with ongoing negative change (ii) sustaining good health and energy under constant pressure (iii) bouncing back from setbacks and adversities (iv) changing to a new way of living and working when an old way no longer works (v) and doing all this without acting in harmful ways.)
  A middle score of (25 to 45) means your resiliency skills are adequate but probably can be greatly enhanced by using this book.
  A high score of (over 45) means you have good resiliency skills and this book will validate many things you are doing right.

  This book in a nutshell presents five resiliency “levels” or skills (level four is divided into 4 sub-levels while level 5 is divided into 3 sub-levels) so, in effect, the reader is presented with ten essential resiliency skills that Siebert has distilled from “the emerging new science of resiliency psychology.” This book, besides other important things, shows you how to:

  (1) Sustain strong, healthy energy in non-stop pressure and change
  (2) Bounce back quickly from setbacks
  (3) Gain strength from adversities
  (4) Convert misfortune into good fortune
  (5) Overcome tendencies to feel like a victim, and stay detached from victim reactions of others
  (6) Overcome the three main resiliency barriers.

  Who is this book written for? Siebert explains: “The resiliency guidelines in this book focus mainly on resiliency in the workplace, but they apply broadly to all aspects of life.” (Actually, I think Siebert is being too restrictive in saying that these principles “focus mainly on resiliency in the workplace.” Personally, I think these principles are essential to know so as to effectively play the game of life.)

  What will this book NOT tell you? It “will not tell you what to do or how to act or think…Resilient people are those who decide that somehow, some way, they will do the very best they can to survive, cope, and make things turn out well.” This book helps you develop your own unique way of being resilient by being both self-reliant and socially responsible.

  As a physically disabled person, my personal favorite chapter was entitled “Mastering Extreme Resiliency Challenges.” Included here are true stories from 9/11 survivors. I feel Siebert outdoes himself in this penultimate chapter.

  Finally, this book has some key features. Important definitions, exercises, and other important and essential information are isolated from the main narrative as inserts so as to highlight key ideas. Each chapter is broken up into sections with anecdotes, examples, and true stories instead of having one long narrative. At the end of each chapter are insightful “Resiliency Development Activities” that help you utilize and think about the information from each chapter.

  In conclusion, this is truly a helpful and unique book. Discover for yourself why this book was named the winner of the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the “Self Help” category at BookExpo America (the largest book publishing event in the United States) and why it was endorsed by the past president of the American Psychological Association!!

  (first published 2005; preface; 13 chapters; main narrative 200 pages; notes; index; acknowledgements; about the author)

  +++++

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