How to Build Resilience in 3 Easy Steps

If we had perfect foreknowledge of the future, there would be no such thing as uncertainty. Learning how to build resilience will provide greater certainty.

However, we do not have perfect foreknowledge and never will.

Therefore, uncertainty and anxiety play a major role in life. How can you develop rock solid certainty about the future in spite of not knowing what, specifically, is in store for you?

Read on to discover three universal principles for how to build resilience that can jump start your new view of the future

So far in life you have learned complex skills that at one point you could not even fathom. Anyone who has learned to tell time or tie shoes knows what I’m talking about.

Even if you still struggle with fear about your future and cannot imagine how to get beyond it, there are most definitely solutions that you have not learned yet. You just need to discover what they are and begin applying them until you have a new skill, a new perspective and a new way of being.

Here are three principles to help along the way, with specific action steps to strengthen them within you:

3 Steps: How to Build Resilience

I. Draw on past resources

Even though you haven’t been down the road ahead, there is plenty of road behind you. You’ve made the best of things when they did not go as planned. You’ve accomplished goals. You have traits that you and others consider strengths. What are those traits? What have you accomplished in spite of adversity?

Write these things down. Realize these strengths came from within you and are ready for the next challenge as well.

II. Develop a solid strategy for dealing with the unexpected

There is no shortage of ways to prepare for what the future may bring. Regardless of your worry, there exists a way to prepare for it. If you are unsure how to prepare for your particular source of future anxiety, do the research. If you are worried about running out of money, learn to budget and save. If you are worried about sustainable living, research ever-growing sustainable living communities. If you worry about running out of food, consult a Mormon.

If you worry about making your dreams come true, learn to think in developmental stages to make the most of where you are, so that you will develop to your full potential.

In short, tons of people have already mastered your area of uncertainty. Find them!

III. Cultivate inner readiness for adventure

Given that change is the only constant, develop an attitude for embracing it. My inner attitude about inevitable change and the uncertainty it brings is to cultivate an inner spirit of adventure. I’ve learned to get bored with the status quo, follow my passion and, at times, take risks in order to create a lifestyle that inspires my family and me.

True adventurers in life are rare. Most people live attached to routine: A steady paycheck, familiar friends, weekend BBQs, mid-week bowling, reality shows, Monday Night Football.

Week in. Week out.

Of course, nothing is wrong with this until something comes along to disrupt the routine. What if you weren’t attached to any rigid routine filled with the same old things, but focused your life on principles that naturally take you far and wide?

Learning, for example. What if you developed an appetite for learning new ideas and skills? With every new accomplishment, new opportunities appear before you.

Or service. What if you identified a niche of people or a cause to which you could contribute your talents over time? With each success, you discover better ways to serve and then seek new skills to deliver. Volunteer your time and find a way to start a business around serving a particular group. Either way, it’s a challenge that will keep you on your toes, adapting to the ever changing needs of those you serve.

What would be your preferred adventure in life? Discover it!

The bottom line: Resilience

Draw on your past. Learn strategies for dealing with the unexpected. Cultivate an adventurous spirit. It all adds up to resilience. People who own this quality are rock solid and can teach others how to build resilience in themselves, too.