Resilience Tips: Keep It Simple

By Sandy Davis, a.k.a. "The Resilience Guy"

The Importance of Keeping Things Simple

My approach to taking great care of yourself and increasing your resilience-readiness is a simple one.  It works best and is most sustainable when you keep it that way—as simple as possible.

All you need to do is first set up, and then live within, one or more of the elementary self-care structures.  Doing so does not require you to do any further research, take any self-development seminars, join any associations/ organizations, obtain any certifications, follow the prescriptions of any guru or cult, invest financially in any expensive self-help programs, or otherwise do anything out of the ordinary.  In fact, the opposite obtains.

Adherence to these self-care structures will help you successfully handle the ordinary challenges of daily living that everyone faces sooner or later, and again and again.  No one alive can escape them.  The self-care structures will also set you up to handle extraordinary challenges—whenever they befall you—with power and grace.

 

 

10 Tips for Simplicity’s Sake

Here are 10 tips that will help you keep your self-care activities simple and effective:

 

(1)     Because you cannot give what you do not have, make it a daily habit to pay yourself first.  Once you’ve done so, you’ll be able to pay others generously, compassionately, and continuously.

(2)     To ensure that you pay yourself first, you may need to invert your priorities.  As much as possible, make your daily self-care your first priority, and then schedule everything else in your day around that sacrosanct priority.

(3)     As much as possible, turn your ongoing self-care activities into consistent daily routines.  Make them unfailing habits.

(4)     Make sure you set up self-care structures for yourself that are ecological and that work well for you.  If you find a particular structure to be causing you more stress than it is relieving, redesign that structure.

(5)     Chunk down your daily practices until they are manageable ongoing commitments—and then do them without fail.  It’s better to aim just high enough to hit the target right in the center, than to aim way too high and miss the target completely.

(6)     Remember to embrace your failures with honesty and humility.  If something is broken, fix it.

(7)     Remember also to joyfully celebrate all your successes—big, small, and even miniscule.  Small successes beget big ones.

(8)     Keep your sense of humor about you.  A little bit of laughter goes a long way.

(9)     Dare to imagine outrageously wonderful adventures and successes, and then pursue them with abiding courage, patience, and faith.

(10)    Practice, practice, and practice some more.

"That which is simplest lasts longest."  -- Sandy Davis

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You are welcome to re-publish the above article in its entirety either on a web site or in a blog, providing you do not change the article and you include the following attribution in its entirety:

Copyright © 2009 Alexander M. (Sandy) Davis.  To find out more about Sandy Davis and the resilience-related products and services he offers, visit http://www.ResilienceWorks.com.  To subscribe to his free monthly e-newsletter, send an e-mail to Subscribe@ResilienceWorks.com.  To reach Sandy directly, send an e-mail to Sandy@ResilenceWorks.com.  FYI, he’s “The Resilience Guy.”

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