"The Survivor Personality"

[Andy62]

The title of this thread is the title of a great book by Al Siebert PH.D. Dr Siebert is an ex paratrooper with a PH.D in Psychology who has spent his life studying the personality traits of survivors of all type of threatening life situations. It is a great book on how to not only survive ,but how to turn threatening situations to your advantage and in the end thrive. I first came across Dr. Siebert when a company that I was working for hired him to put on a seminar during a previous,but admittedly less threatening economic downturn. The book combined with transformetrics is what you need to survive and thrive in the coming era. I am planning to get through this situation stronger than I was when it started. If you have the same goal this book can help.

[gruntbrain]

On a micro level( eg personal health/fitness) there's much we can do to survive/thrive. Macro influences( eg taxes , the economy) are somewhat unpredictable & hence more of a challenge to the survivor types..
Ladies & Gents, be humble, forget your ideologies, & hedge your bets..

The Siebert book looks promising.

[John Peterson]

Hey Gordon,

I could not agree more with you. The Survivor Personality is one of the best books that I have ever read. I'd also recommend Man's Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl. This book outlines Frankl's experiences in Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. In a sense, it's a great companion book to The Survivor Personality because it shows how the traits outlined in TSP really did make a huge difference in who survived and who didn't in Auschwitz.

---John Peterson

[gruntbrain]

Exerting some control over an illness rather than letting the Docs do it all, is likely to increase your survival odds. Such a take charge approach may help to explain PLACEBOS

[ben alexander]

Looks like a great read - I'm ordering it from my library.

My family on my dad's side are Irish Immigrants, and are a pretty hardy lot. One of the things my grandparents said is "NEVER let the bastards grind you down!". Crude, but effective. It was that attitude that helped my grandfather get through the Second World War as a soldier, and recover from some horrific shrapnel wounds. He said that he could always tell the guys who were going to make it through the war and those who wouldn't, just from the way they carried themselves. The guys who were confident and upbeat, and saw the bright side of life and laughed off their mistakes, did better mentally and physically. The downbeat, nervous guys would always burn out, make careless mistakes, and resort to drink to release their tensions.

Ben

[Germanowl]

Hey John,
Many thanks for the reminder about Victor Frankl.
I was a big fan of his books, and Logotherapy, some years ago, but more recently I seem to have forgotten about them.