Some people thrive in the face of setbacks, while others seem unable to recover. For example, how would you respond to being laid off or not getting a promotion? Would regaining your confidence be fairly easy, or very difficult? Cultivating three traits can help you become the type of person who rebounds from these types of setbacks:
- Seeing reality clearly. Resilient people have down-to-earth views on the situations they face. They aren’t overly optimistic, and they don’t deny reality. Instead, they stare down even harrowing situations, viewing them as a way to train themselves in how to survive hardships.
- Finding meaning in what happens. People who bounce back devise constructs about their suffering to create some sort of meaning for themselves and others.
- Making do. Overcoming obstacles means having to improvise a solution to a problem when you don’t have what you want. Resilient people make the most of what they do have.
Adapted from the HBR Emotional Intelligence series
