Ten tips for improving your

resilience
Resilience isn’t a trait that you either have or don’t have. Like any skill, resilience can be
developed, it just takes some practice. Here are some top tips for improving your resilience:

Look after your physical and mental health

It’s been proven that people who exercise, eat well and gets lots of good quality sleep tend to
be better able to cope and deal with life.

Develop a positive self image

Everything starts in the mind – resilient people think well of themselves and see themselves in a
positive way. They are good to themselves, take care of themselves and are not too self-critical.
They know they’re not perfect, but don’t worry about it – they are happy with who they are and
accept themselves warts and all!

Commit to goals
Resilient people actively commit to achieving goals and dedicate time and effort to solving
problems and delivering solutions. Resilient people are committed to an active, engaged
outlook, they attempt to influence their surroundings and to make positive changes even when
things don’t always seem to be working out or seem hard.

Focus on building and maintaining positive home and working

relationships
Studies have shown that resilient people tend to have strong social networks – family, friends
and work colleagues. By developing strong networks resilient people have a community of
friends that they can fall back on when they need advice and guidance or when they are
dealing with a short term crisis.

Show appreciation and gratitude for what you have

Being able to focus on all the good things in life and not dwell on or obsess over problems helps
resilient people to keep a positive mindset and helps them to be more effective at home and at
work. Being grateful for what you have rather than worrying about what you don’t have allows
a resilient person to retain perspective and positivity.

Accept circumstances that cannot be changed

Some things simply cannot be altered and resilient people accept this and are good at focusing
on those things that can be changed. They don’t waste energy or time on trying to do the
impossible – they put their energies into things they can affect and positively improve.

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See the good in life
We’ve all heard of the ‘glass half full’ mentality – resilient people tend to see stressful events
or problems as temporary setbacks or even as opportunities to learn and grow, rather than as
unbearable, insurmountable problems. They see life in very positive terms and can look at a
negative situation and find the good in it.

Be proactive
It’s widely noted that people who believe they have some measure of control over the
circumstances in their lives are less likely to be passive victims. They are much more likely to be
proactive and take responsibility and effective action to change things.

Take a bigger picture view

Resilient people take a long-term view and keep in mind a broader context. They can take an
holistic perspective of a situation and assess the real scale of any problems or issues. Putting
today’s problem in a bigger picture context helps them to rationalise the situation and to focus
time and energy on appropriate solutions and action.

Be optimistic
Resilient people maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting positive results. They tend not to worry
about negative things that may happen in the future and focus their time and energy on the
good things that are likely to happen.

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