5 Tips for Resilience from Best-Selling Author Danny Bader

1) Be alive.
I write about this a lot, the difference between just living and being alive. Just living for me is going through the motions — getting up every day, not really engaged in life, a lot of things going on, complaining a lot, not having a belief in something bigger. It’s just a lower-energy state. Being alive is quite the opposite of that. You wake up every day with gratitude —even amidst the challenges you have, you know — and you’re grateful for what you do.

2) Be still.
This is really about the ability to connect inside of ourselves. It’s the ability to get still and let yourself not be so concerned with your concerns. Let them just kind of wash away, and really get to the essence of who you are. I think the answers are in there. I think the energy comes back after that. I think the focus comes back after that.

3) See yourself coming out on the other side.
Vision is so important, especially during tough times. Vision is the ability for us to imagine what needs to be real. It’s a tremendously powerful concept. When we’re going through a tough time, it’s not just about positive thinking and pretending things are okay. Sometimes, things aren’t okay. Vision is more about the ability to say, “Okay, where we are right now is not good. However, here’s where we’re headed — as a family, as a team, as a couple, as an organization, and here’s what it’s going to look like on the other side.” Now, there are always going to be things we can’t control. So when you write your vision, you’ve got to write it in that scope of what you can control.

4) View resilience as a verb.
I believe resilience is more of a verb. It’s what we do. Resilience isn’t a place we get to. That’s your vision. Resilience is the path along the way. I want to make you conscious of your approach to managing difficult times. Resilience is the ability to move through challenging times, and as you experiment with the thinking, the action, the mindset, the beliefs, and the vision, some are going to stick and you’re going to go, “Yeah, I’m going to habitualize these because they’re giving me a good outcome or giving me a good value.”

5) Play things out in your head.
What are you up to creating in your life? How are you going about doing that? Your morning routine is a good place to start. What are the good things you need to do to put yourself into a positive, resilient, optimistic state? Whether it’‘s exercise, journaling, or meditation, before I get out of bed, I’ve seen my whole day unfold. The more you see that as a roll of film in your brain, the more likely it is to happen. When you do that, you don’t see a day full of anxiety, depression, and being overwhelmed and defeated. You see your day.