My 10 Favorite Books on Resilience

Are you looking for a good book on resilience? I've read dozens of books on resilience, and these are my favorites.

Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges by Dr. Steven Southwick and Dr. Dennis Charney. Southwick and Charney draw on decades of resilience research and work with trauma survivors to identify ten factors that we can use to cope, become stronger, and build resilience. They use extraordinary stories of a wide range of people to demonstrate how these factors helped them overcome seemingly impossible situations. If you read only one book on resilience, read this one.

The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. Before resilience became a hot topic, Loehr and Schwartz were writing about energy management. They argue that to be fully engaged we must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned with a purpose beyond our immediate self-interest. Their book explains how managing energy, not time, is the key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness, and life balance. They provide a practical, scientifically-based approach to managing your energy more skillfully. 

Thrive by Arianna Huffington. In 2007, Arianna Huffington collapsed from exhaustion, cutting her eye and breaking her cheekbone. Since then, she explored what it means to lead "the good life." She concluded that our relentless pursuit of the two traditional metrics of success - money and power - has led to an epidemic of burnout and stress-related illnesses and an erosion in the quality of our relationships, family life, and, ironically, our careers. Drawing on the latest research and science in the fields of psychology, sports, sleep, and physiology, her book shows us the way to a more fulfilling, successful, and resilient life.

Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sanberg felt sure that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. Her friend, Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover from and rebound from life-shattering experiences. This book combines Sheryl's insights with Adam's research on resilience in the face of adversity to provide a road map for everyone struggling to overcome hardships.

The Resilience Factor by Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatté. Reivich and Shatté are expert psychologists and a prominent resilience research team. In this book, they reveal seven proven techniques that have helped thousands improve their capacity to handle life's inevitable surprises and setbacks. They demonstrate that it is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens that will have the most significant impact on our lives. Their book reminds us that resilience is not only an ability that we're born with and need to survive, but it's also a skill that we can master.

Man’s Search For Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor E. Frankl. Having meaning and purpose in your life is one of the five resilience factors. Frank wrote this book in 1959, and it still provides one of the best explanations I've read on the power of meaning. While it can be an emotionally challenging book, it is also inspiring and uplifting as you learn how people survived some of the worst situations imaginable. His section on logotherapy, a psychotherapeutic approach based on living purposefully and meaningfully, can be technical for non-psychiatrists but has nuggets of insights that will stay with you always. A reader survey for the U.S. Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America.

The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed With Happiness by Emily Esfahani Smith. If you’re struggling with Man’s Search for Meaning, you might find The Power of Meaning to be a much easier read. Smith has a unique ability to translate complicated science into simple concepts that can be easily understood. She is a skilled storyteller, introducing us to ordinary people and showing us how they incorporate the four pillars of meaning (belonging, purpose, transcendence, and storytelling) into their lives.

Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown. Brown interviewed dozens of people - from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, teachers, and parents - about how they fell and got back up. She found they all recognized the power of emotion and were able to act despite their discomfort. Brown explains how vulnerability and being our authentic self provides the strength we need to recover from trauma and remain resilient in times of adversity.

Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert A. Emmons. Gratitude is a powerful resilience tool. Emmons reaches beyond science to bolster the case for gratitude by weaving in the writings of philosophers, novelists, and theologians. Thanks! provides inspiration and practical ways to incorporate more gratitude into your life.

All You Have to Do Is Ask: How to Master the Most Important Skill for Success by Wayne Baker. Asking for help, especially when you’re in a crisis, is essential for maintaining resilience. Yet, it is one of the hardest things for many of us to do. Baker shares dozens of tools that individuals and teams can use to make asking for help a personal and organizational habit.

What’s your favorite resilience-related book? Why?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

What Resilience is Not

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Since the global health pandemic hit, you've probably seen and heard the word resilience a lot. It seems to mean many different things depending on the context and, unfortunately, is often misused.

According to MacMillian Dictionary, the noun resilience, meaning 'the act of rebounding,' was first used in the 1620s and was derived from the Latin term resilire, which means to recoil or rebound.

By the mid-nineteenth century, watchmakers used the term resilience to refer to the flexible qualities of internal components that prevented excessive vibration. In the 1850s, resilience was used to describe being resistant or not susceptible to something. In physics, resilience is the ability of an elastic material (such as rubber or animal tissue) to absorb energy (such as from a blow) and release that energy as it springs back to its original shape.

As you can see, the term resilience adapted to the context in which it was used. It can mean very different things depending on who uses the term and how it is being applied. When I refer to resilient people, I'm describing individuals who adapt successfully in the presence of risk and adversity and bounce back, and possibly bounce forward, from setbacks, trauma, and high stress.

When the term resilience is misused, it can confuse and undermine efforts to improve or maintain our wellbeing. That's why it's also essential to understand what resilience is not. Here are four things resilience is not:

Resilience Isn’t Strength

Resilience is not about being strong. You may be familiar with Aesop’s fable about an oak tree and some reeds. The oak tree bragged about being strong and staying straight and unbending during many storms. While the reeds were not strong, their flexibility and adaptability helped them survive a great hurricane when the oak tree fell. Resilience is about being more like the reeds instead of the oak tree.

Resilience Isn’t Grit

Resilience is also not grit, which is a sustained, consistent effort toward a goal. Perseverance can be a valuable ability but can cause harm when the right action would be to change direction or quit. Resilience involves knowing when to persevere and when to quit.  

Resilience Doesn’t Fix Abuse

Resilience is not the solution to toxic leadership or an abusive work environment. These types of damaging environments can quickly erode team members' resilience, no matter what they do. While some people can survive this type of work environment, they will not thrive. In this situation, resilience is a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. Leaders need to remove toxic individuals and improve the work environment before they focus on building resilience.

Resilience Isn’t All About You

Finally, resilience is not all about you. Someone who is highly resilient can harm people with low resilience if they aren't careful. Focusing only on your wellbeing contributes to the dark side of resilience. We can be so good at taking care of ourselves that we neglect those around us or put too much pressure on people with unrealistic expectations. The best resilience ensures the health and wellbeing of everyone on our teams and in our communities.

How do you define resilience? What do you think resilience is not?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want to Be More Resilient? Drop Your Stones

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Dr. Rick Hanson writes a lot about resilience and provides some practical tools that improve our well-being. One of my favorites is his suggestion to "drop our stones." He explains that most of us are lugging around at least one thing that is a needless burden.

According to Hanson, a burden may be "holding on to resentments, worrying over and over about the same thing, or trying to make someone love you who won't. Perhaps it's an unrealistic standard you keep failing to meet, an old quarrel you keep rehashing, or something addictive you can't do in moderation, so you're always thinking about it."

It could be an old shame, disappointment, or loss. Or, a chronic tension in your body or armor around your heart. Maybe it's a rigid belief or righteous indignation.

Carrying these burdens is like a load on your back, a heavy weight in your hand.

Hanson is not suggesting we turn away from pain, stop caring about others, or avoid ambitious goals. It's healthy to feel sadness, hurt, or worry. We need to keep faith with ourselves, bet on ourselves, and dream big dreams.

Instead, we want to avoid being sucked into repetitive preoccupations that erode our resilience. Negative preoccupations in our brains can cause us to ruminate and reinforce negative thinking. We may feel trapped and overburdened.  

To avoid this, we need to drop the stones that weigh us down.

Dr. Hanson suggests that we pick one stone we'd like to drop this year. He says, to "decide for yourself what, if anything, is reasonable or useful about it. Know in your heart what is worth taking into account and what is just needless worthless excess suffering."

Then, deliberately carry that stone for a few seconds or longer. Think about it, worry about it, and get sad or mad about it. You want to know how it feels so that it becomes easier to drop the stone if you pick it up again later.

Then, resolve to stop picking up the stone. According to Hanson, you want to "determine to disengage from it, to stop allying with it, and getting hijacked by it. It may keep mumbling away in the background, but at least you can stop adding to its weight. Be strong inside your mind. In much the same way that you could step back from someone who's being harmful, you can step back from old habit patterns."

Shift your attention to other things, ideally those that are the opposite of your stone. This could be forgiving yourself for old shame, or turning toward healthy pleasures and away from unhealthy ones, or seeing the big picture of everything that's working if you've gotten preoccupied with something that's not.

With repetition, you'll be more likely to default to these new objects of attention instead of the burden you’ve decided to drop.

Every year, commit to dropping one more stone. As you shed your stones, feel the lightness that comes. Experience how much room you now have for more positive energy.

Have you dropped any stones? What impact has it had on you?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

How to Maintain Resilience When You Work 24/7

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Many people are required to be available for work 24/7. We carry mobile devices that we regularly check after hours for emails, and we are expected to be able to respond to a text or phone call immediately, even when on vacation. Today's "new normal," with many of us working remotely, has increased the pressure on employees to be available around the clock.

The problem with this work style is that it rarely allows for true leisure time. Employees have less control over non-work activities and less time for recovery.

One study linked extended work availability - not being at work but expected to be available by phone or email - with decreased calmness and energy levels. The possibility of being needed to work was enough to impede recovery.

In this study, participants showed elevated cortisol levels when on-call, similar to cortisol levels due to job stress. The authors speculated that the body was preparing for the anticipated stress.

In contrast, participants who did not think about work or were detached from their work had lower cortisol levels and were more likely to recoup their energies and improve their moods. "Non-work hours during which employees are expected to respond to work issues constrain employee behavior," say the authors of the current study, "and cannot be considered leisure time."

While it is hard to create recovery time given the realities of a 24/7 work environment, doing so will help you maintain your resilience despite the constant stress. Here are some tips on how to make time for recovery when 24/7 is your work reality:

Set Times for Emails

Identify ahead of time how often and at what times you will check your work email after hours. Communicate this information to your boss and your team. Turn off your email notifications. Setting a time will prevent you from continually checking during your time off.

Establish a Duty Roster

Even an informal duty roster can give fellow teammates time off from checking email. Identify who will be reviewing emails and who won't. Inform the person on duty when you want to get a phone call or text about something urgent.

Trust Your Backup

Go on vacation and empower the person who fills in for you. Ensure they are well briefed on issues and give them the authority to make decisions while you're gone. Then, stay off the email (or read your email at a designated time without responding). You must trust your backup if you want to really be off the clock.

Plan in Advance

Schedule your leave as far in advance as possible. Planning gives everyone more time to prepare for your absence. Don't cancel your vacation unless there is a once-in-a-lifetime, dire emergency. Remember, you can trust your backup to address anything that happens while you're gone.

Set Expectations

When starting a new position or when you get a new boss, discuss expectations of work availability. Make clear what works and does not work for you and why.

Take Short Recovery Breaks

Take several short breaks every day that give you quick recovery periods. Eat lunch away from your desk and mobile device. Take a 10-minute walk. Run a quick errand or watch a funny video.

How do you find time to recover in a 24/7 work environment?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

The Amazing Power of Music in a Crisis

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In the first few months after coronavirus spread throughout the world in 2020, there was an explosion of group singalongs around the world. People sang from their balconies in Italy, the United States, and Canada. Others used technology to sing together virtually.

In Columbus, children played cellos from their porch so an elderly neighbor could hear. A Dutch orchestra gave a virtual performance of Ode to Joy.

There's a reason so many people broke out into song during this health crisis. Music, particularly singing, helps people stay resilient despite chronic stress and adversity. Singing with other people is even more beneficial.

Research suggests that creating music together evolved as a tool of social living. Groups and tribes sang and danced to build loyalty, transmit vital information, and ward off enemies. 

Numerous studies demonstrate that music reduces anxiety and stress, and improves mood and performance. Some research suggests that music enhances our immune system by reducing the stress hormone cortisol and boosting the Immunoglobin A antibody. Researchers found that group singing builds social bonds, strengthening the connections we need for resilience.

Singing may promote a sense of happiness and well-being. Researchers found that people feel more positive after actively singing than they do after passively listening to music or chatting about positive life events. SoundFro.com lists 15 ways singing can benefit your health, including lowering blood pressure, improving memory, and boosting confidence.

In This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, rocker turned neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin writes that music is fundamental to human beings. He argues that music serves as an indicator of cognitive, emotional, and physical health and is evolutionarily advantageous as a force that leads to social bonding and increased fitness.

Luckily, we can all sing. During this crisis, make an effort to sing every day. If you’re bored singing along to the radio or YouTube videos, check out online karaoke sites or join a virtual choir. If you can’t carry a tune, no one will judge your performance in the shower! Do you sing during a crisis?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want to Improve Your Resilience? Be Kind

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As the global health pandemic continues beyond two years, many of us are struggling to maintain our resilience. Being kind to others is an easy way to boost your well-being while helping others who are struggling.

This summer,  Bryant P.H. Hui, Ph.D., a research assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, published the results of an extensive review of over 200 studies on kindness. Hui and his colleagues found a modest but significant link between prosocial behavior and the givers’ well-being. 

Small gestures of kindness are quite powerful for the giver. Hui and his colleagues found that random acts of kindness, such as helping an older neighbor carry groceries, were more strongly associated with overall wellbeing than formal prosocial behavior, such as scheduled volunteering for a charity. Hui thinks this may be because informal helping is more casual and spontaneous and may more easily lead to forming social connections. Informal giving is also more varied and less likely to become stale or monotonous, he said.

Promoting kindness at work can also have a positive impact. A study published in the journal Emotion examined the effects of performing random acts of kindness in the workplace. The study focused on the behaviors of more than 100 employees who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: "givers," "receivers," and a "control" group. Researchers instructed the "givers" to perform five acts of kindness to specific "receivers" for four weeks. The "receivers" and "control" were led to believe the study was about workplace morale and were tasked with discretely keeping track of the generous behaviors they observed.

Both "givers" and "receivers" felt happier and reported higher levels of well-being (less depressed and more satisfied with their jobs) two months later compared to the control. Researchers also discovered that acts of kindness had a positive ripple effect. "Receivers" weren't only paying back the acts of kindness to the "givers," but they also paid it forward, meaning that others benefited, too. "Receivers" in the experiment paid it forward by doling out more acts of kindness than the control group – 278% more.

Other researchers confirm that kindness is contagious. Researcher Jamil Zaki and colleagues found that people imitate the particulars of positive actions and the spirit underlying them. They concluded that an individual's kindness could trigger people to spread positivity in other ways. 

To help you and others thrive during the coronavirus crisis, remind yourself to be kind. If you’re looking for more inspiration on the positive impact of being kind, the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has a wealth of information on the science of kindness and how to become a kindness advocate.

What acts of kindness have you done lately? What impact did these acts have on your well-being?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Why You Need to Exercise During a Crisis

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After two years, we are still grappling with coronavirus and figuring out our new normal. We also don’t know what the next crisis will be.

Those of us who maintain our resilience through any crisis will adapt more easily to the unexpected and will recover more quickly once the crisis is over.

Several researchers have found that regular exercise helps build resilience, which is why it's critical to stay active during this crisis.

One study found that aerobic exercises, including jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening, and dancing, reduce anxiety and depression. A literature review noted that working out reduces anxiety, depression, and negative mood, and improves self-esteem and cognitive functioning. Another study found that running for 15 minutes a day or walking for an hour reduces the risk of major depression by 26%. Several studies show that exercise can improve your immune system.

Researchers speculate that exercise is so powerful because it promotes neural growth in the brain and reduces inflammation. Physical activity may create new brain patterns, promoting feelings of calm and wellbeing. Exercise also releases endorphins, which make us feel good. Exercise can help us sleep well, which is known to have protective effects on the brain.

Most experts recommend that thirty minutes of exercise of moderate intensity, such as brisk walking, for three days a week, is sufficient for these health benefits. These 30 minutes need not be continuous; three 10-minute walks can be as equally useful as one 30-minute walk. Even if you don't have 90 minutes each week to exercise, do what you can. One study found that a single, brief spurt of very easy exercise will produce desirable changes in the brain.

If the coronavirus has disrupted your regular exercise routine, think about alternative ways you can keep moving. For example, put on some music and dance for 10 minutes every day. Find a virtual exercise class that keeps you motivated. Go for a solo bike ride or walk around the block.

While moderate exercise is critical during a crisis, avoid over-exercising since some research indicates that stress caused by too much physical activity may be harmful. Consult your doctor before exercising while sick or starting a new exercise routine.

What impact does exercise have on your resilience?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Chef Kwame Onwuachi - A Resilience Story

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Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s first restaurant failed after 11 weeks. His failure was very public given his fame as a Top Chef contestant and extensive media attention leading up to the restaurant opening. 

Many people would have struggled to bounce back after this type of failure. Instead, Onwuachi went on to open a popular second restaurant, win a James Beard award, and publish a best-selling memoir.

When I read Onwuachi’s memoir, Notes From a Young Black Chef, I was impressed with his resilience despite overwhelming hardship. He has a long list of traumas, including child abuse, poverty, racism, and hostile work environments. He weathered these and other challenges to achieve his dream of sharing his and other African American stories through cooking.

What makes Onwuachi so resilient?

When I asked Onwuachi where his resilience comes from, he emphasized the importance of "having people in your corner." He explained that he calls a good friend when times are tough, and this social support helps him work through problems. His strong family ties, despite an abusive father, and his ability to build supportive social networks also contribute to his resilience.

Onwuachi is a master problem solver who isn’t afraid to ask for help. He embraces failure as a learning experience, telling an audience that “true failure is not trying.” While hoping for the best, he prepares for the worst, creating systems and spreadsheets that help him manage huge workloads.

Cooking was how Onwuachi found meaning from a young age. In his book, he describes a time when he hit rock bottom and "never felt so alone or so rootless." He was "hungover, strung out, and depressed" and felt the world was moving forward without him. To pull himself out of this funk, he cooked chicken curry, a dish that reminded him of home and real love.

Like his grandfather, Onwuachi promotes racial justice and equality, which gives him meaning and purpose beyond his cooking. In his book, he provides many examples of efforts to combat racism and promote more inclusivity in restaurant kitchens.

Onwuachi’s sense of humor helps him maintain a positive outlook. His interview with Trevor Noah highlights his natural self-deprecating humor and his ability to view adverse events from a more positive framework. 

Onwuachi’s story is an inspiration and a reminder that all of us can overcome trauma and hardship. Like Onwuachi, are you incorporating resilience factors into your life?

Do you have a resilience story you’d like to share?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

How to Use Root Cause Analysis to Be a Better Problem Solver

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Good problem solvers tend to be more resilient because they don't spend mental energy focusing on issues they cannot resolve. Many people fix only on the symptoms of problems, which means they keep recurring. Skilled problem solvers look for underlying systems and processes to develop strategies that resolve issues for good.

One of the best problem-solving tools is Root Cause Analysis. This tool helps people answer the question of why a problem occurred in the first place. It seeks to identify the origin of an issue using a specific set of steps to find the primary cause.

Root Cause Analysis assumes that systems and events are interrelated. An action in one area triggers a response in another, and another, and so on. By tracing back these actions, you can discover where the problem started and how it grew into the symptom you're facing.

For most problems, you'll usually find three basic types of causes:

• Physical: Tangible, material items failed in some way (for example, the copy machine stopped working).

• Human: People did something wrong or did not do something that was needed. Human causes typically lead to physical causes (for example, no one conducted maintenance on the copy machine, so a critical part broke).

• Organizational: A system, process, or policy that people use to make decisions or do their work is faulty (for example, no one person was responsible for maintaining the copy machine, and everyone assumed someone else was conducting maintenance).

With Root Cause Analysis, you look at all three types of causes. It involves investigating the patterns of adverse effects, finding hidden flaws in the system, and discovering specific actions contributing to the problem. This analysis often reveals more than one root cause.

Here are three simple techniques that can help you conduct a Root Cause Analysis:

Five Whys

Toyota Industries developed the "5 Whys" technique in the 1930s. The method is remarkably simple: when a problem occurs, you want to explore the causal chain. You drill down to its root cause by asking "Why?" at least five times. Here's a simple YouTube video on how the "5 Whys" was used to identify the cause of a problem at Toyota.

Fact vs. Opinion

When problem-solving, identify the difference between what you believe (opinion) and what can be proven true or false (fact). Ask yourself, "do I have evidence to back that up?" and "Do I really know that to be true?" While your knowledge and experience are useful, distinguish between what you think may be happening and what you can confirm as fact. Once you can differentiate between fact and opinion, you'll be able to develop more effective strategies to solve a problem. Check out this YouTube video on the difference between fact and opinion.

Current Reality Tree

A Current Reality Tree focuses on cause and effect to identify the root cause of a problem. You start by listing the undesirable effects (UDE). These are assumed to be symptoms of a deeper common cause. Then you construct a graph attempting to link any two UDE using cause-and-effect reasoning. For example, if the first UDE is that the copy machine jams a lot, you then look for another UDE that caused this to happen – e.g., employees don't know how to use the copier properly. Another UDE could be that there is no training on how to use the copier. Keep linking UDEs until they converge on a single root cause. This YouTube video provides a good overview of the Current Reality Tree.

What helps you get to the root of a problem?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Use Photography to Rebuild Your Resilience

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For many of us, COVID-19 has been traumatic. Years of chronic stress have worn us down and many of us are struggling with low resilience. When I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after my service in Iraq, I used photography to explore my feelings, establish self-awareness, and deal with emotional conflicts. Thanks to photography, I fully recovered.

I’m not the only person who used photography to recover from mental illness. In this powerful TedTalk, Bryce Evans describes how he beat depression through the use of photography. He now teaches people how to use therapeutic photography to learn, heal, and grow.

Several research studies confirm the power of photography for improving wellbeing. One study found that taking a daily photo improved well-being through self-care, community interaction, and the potential for reminiscence. It led to more exercise and provided a sense of purpose, competence, and achievement. Posting the photo online helped people to manage loneliness and grief and to meet new people with shared interests.

Other researchers found that a photography project for women living with HIV/AIDs supported their mental health. It facilitated empowerment and helped women express themselves. It also provided new tools that helped them process past traumas.

Veterans in out-patient mental health treatment who enrolled in a six-week photography workshop reported a positive impact on their recovery. Taking photographs while in recovery improved their personal reflection and organization of thinking. Photography also promoted recovery discussions, communication, social support, and a sense of purpose.

Photography also fosters the five resilience factors in the following ways:

Self-Care

Taking time to recover is essential for taking care of ourselves. While meditation is the best way to rest our brains by focusing on only one thing at a time, I’ve never been able to meditate. Instead, photography is my meditation. Photography is a mindfulness practice that forces me to focus on the present and leaves me feeling calm and rested.

Problem-Solving

Learning to accept what we cannot control or influence is a powerful problem-solving skill. Photography is one of the best ways to develop this skill since we are forced to accept current conditions and adapt our camera settings to create an appealing photograph. When we use our mental muscles to accept what we cannot control in photography, it helps us do the same in other areas of our lives.

Positive Outlook

Reframing is one of the best ways to shift from a negative to a more positive view of any situation. Luckily, photographers reframe all the time. We’ll explore a subject through different frames until we find the most effective photograph. We may take a wide-angle view, or use a macro for a close-up. We’ll look at a subject from different angles to find the most positive image. Learning to reframe will also help us avoid getting stuck in negativity, and instead find a new, more positive way of viewing something.

Meaning and Purpose

Having a passion is a powerful way to bring meaning and purpose into your life. I’m passionate about photography and spend time watching instructional videos, taking classes, and reading books. When I’m feeling stressed, I research possible photography trips or learn a new photography technique.

Social Support

Photographers are great people and a very welcoming community. There are photography clubs and MeetUps in most cities that are easily accessible. Many people take photography tours regularly, making new friends every trip. As an introvert, I find photography related events appealing because I don’t feel as drained of energy afterward.

After a trauma or period of chronic stress, I use photography to rebuild my resilience. Are you a photographer? What impact has photography has on your resilience and wellbeing?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.