"The Survivor Personality"

[Andy62]

"The Survivor Personality" by Al Siebert Ph.D is the best analysis of what makes a survivor in a variety of life situations that I have ever read.

[Greg Newton]

Hey Andy,

You've discussed this book before. If you don't mind, restate some of the author's premises. I find this fascinating what makes the survivor personality. In fact a good analogy are those who survived the Nazi concentration camps. It was a bitterly horrible experience; yet many survived.

How and what was the mindset? Many went through that horror, yet came out of it and went on with their lives successfully. How? Being victimized is not heroic, and despite our best efforts it can happen. But, you can survive trauma. What are the keys?

Greg

[Andy62]

The overall theme of the book pretty much replicates the principles that are the basis of Transformetrics. That survival is an indiviual thing and that every individual must develop their own approach by pulling out and developing the potentials that they have within.

Specific things that we need to do to create a survival type personality include the following:

1. Ask questions: Develop a curiosity reflex
2. Increase your mental and emotional flexibility
3. Assume that change and having to work with uncertainty and ambiguity are a way of life from
now on.
4. Learn how to learn from experiences
5. Develop empathy skill especially for difficult people.
6.Resist thinking of other people as nouns: practice observing and describing what others
feel,think,say,and do.
7. Pause occasionally to silently observe what is happening.
8. Make yourself useful in all situations.
9 Take time to appreciate yourself for the useful and helpful things that you do.
10. When hit by adversity no matter how unfair it seems, follow the surviving and thriving
sequence [Quickly adsorb information-expect the possiblity of a good outcome- consider all possible
actions or reactions]