How Resilient Are You?

If you’ve been following me then you know that I’ve been writing about resilience. So today, I’m offering you a resilience survey to do a self-assessment on four dimensions of resilience.  As you do the assessment, you are establishing a baseline for not only thinking about resilience but measuring your growth in the future. Come back to the survey in the future. You can even use it to set goals for yourself in areas you want to improve.

Instructions:

Use a scale of 0 to 10 to rate yourself on each of the following statements. (0 means that this is not at all true of you and 10 means it is totally true.) You can do this by printing a hard copy of the survey (if you’re at a desk) or by taking out a sheet of paper and jotting down your rating on each of the twenty-four questions.  Then tally your results.

And let me ask you to take your time with these questions rather than rush through them. You can learn a lot about resilience and how you might grow in resilience as you ponder them. 

1. I bounce back from stress pretty quickly.
2. I generally know what I’m feeling.
3. I’m good at coping with negative emotions.
4. I don’t beat myself up when I don’t succeed.
5. I know how to calm myself when something upsets me.
6. I’m good at taking care of my needs.
7. I’m generally buoyant and optimistic.
8. I sometimes pause to enjoy the world around me.
9. I’m able to challenge negative or destructive thinking.
10. I can sit quietly.
11. I’m flexible. If something isn’t working, I’m able to pivot and try something else.
12. I’m able to recognize my thoughts when I’m feeling down or upset.
13. I would say that I have friends and a good support network.
14. I have someone to talk to when things are tough.
15. I’m pretty good at empathy and listening to other people.
16. I like the groups I belong to.
17. I’m able to let others own their own problems.
18. I can say “No” to requests that don’t fit with my priorities.
19. I feel good about myself most of the time.
20. I trust my own opinions more than those of others.
21. I have a sense of purpose about the direction of my life.
22. I set and work towards the accomplishment of goals.
23. I’m persistent, determined, and motivated.
24. I follow a good daily routine.

Scoring

Now add up your responses to all 24 questions. As you can see, there are 240 possible points. Of course, the higher your score the more resilient you see yourself. If your score is above 200, you view yourself as quite resilient. An overall score below 150 means that you have room to grow in resilience.

Perhaps more important than your overall score is looking at your scores on individual questions or even categories of questions.  (Questions 1-6 have to do with how you manager your feelings. Questions 7-12 have to do with how you manage your thinking. Questions 13-18 relate to the quality of your relationships. And questions 19-24 have to do with your sense of self.) These categories correspond with what I consider to be the four foundation principles of resilience.

So what do you think about your overall score on the survey? Where are you low or high? Do you see any patterns in your answers? How much do your scores vary by category? Where are your greatest opportunities for growth? Do you desire to grow in resilience and your ability to handle life’s challenges?

Leave a comment or share a thought. And in upcoming posts, I’ll talk more about strategies for both managing stress and growing in resilience.