50 Techniques to Be Strong, Book Review of Secrets of Resilient People

In our book review of “Secrets of Resilient People: 50 Techniques to Be Strong”, we touch on some of the 50 techniques on how to be strong. We can  also learn that resilience is “the capacity of a system, enterprise, or a person to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances.”

Approaching the idea of resilience as something that can be learned, developed, and strengthened, this book offers 50 tips to develop or increase your resilience. Each chapter offers quotes from inspiring figures, strategies to implement, and a summary of the concept of each chapter. An added bonus is a chapter ribbon along the side of each page so you know exactly where you are at all times. 

‘The Secrets of Resilient People’ reveals the 50 things you need to know to survive and thrive in tough times, maintaining a positive and productive outlook whatever the circumstances. Some will surprise you, and all will inspire you. Put these 50 simple strategies together and you will have a recipe for success, a proven formula that will unlock the secrets and uncover your potential.

The book starts off with a quiz to help you find your baseline resilience score and a way to check off what resilience factors you deem important. Drawing from numerous resources, the author boils things down to short, quick to implement strategies, like, look at what’s working, fail forwards, stop worrying and fix the things you can. 

There are several themes running through the book, like work challenges, personal boundaries, reframing and the importance of feedback, emotional intelligence, as well as many others. All walk you through the process of using each particular strategy to strengthen your resiliency muscle. 

I found myself highlighting, underlining, and starring numerous passages throughout the book. Here are a few of my favorites: 

“People with strong self-efficacy view challenges as problems to be solved or tasks to be completed and so recover more quickly from setback and disappointments.”

“Self-belief makes a really important contribution to resilience. Choosing to believe that you can do something is a powerful antidote to the lethargy and resistance that prevents you from making a change.” 

Concerning feedback – “listening to things which makes you squirm a little is highly instructive.” 

On instituting pauses – “the resilient mind is a quiet mind.”

This book is packed with 252 pages workouts. It’s a book that you can easily pick up for short reading bursts as each chapter only takes a few minutes to read. There is a ton of food for thought here and I recommend this book to anyone wanting to shore up their resilience skills.

John Lees is one of the UK’s best known career strategists. John specialises in helping people make difficult decisions – difficult because they don’t know what to do next, or because there are barriers in the way of change.

He is based in the UK but has delivered workshops in the USA, South Africa, Mauritius, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand and is a presenter at business conferences and consumer events. He has also featured as a speaker at the world’s largest international career conferences in the USA. His books have been translated into Arabic, Georgian, Polish, Spanish and Japanese.

Alongside his day job, John serves as an ordained Anglican priest in the Diocese of Exeter where he is Bishop’s Officer for Self Supporting Ministry.

John is the creator and moderator of the Career Coach Forum, an international LinkedIn group for career professionals with over 7000 members.

I’ll let the author close this review: “Whether we believe in the idea or not, and independent of our personality type or attitude, resilience is something we can adapt, shape and grow.”

Get your own copy of the book Secrets of Resilience from Amazon.

Our book club read this book for June 2021. Learn more about our book club and how you can earn NBHWC-approved continuing education credits here.