Hardiness

Hardiness

by Steven J. Stein, Paul T. Bartone
Released January 2020
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119584452

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Book description

Learn to embrace the 3 C's of psychological hardiness to overcome stress and increase personal growth

Life is full of questions. How you answer these questions can determine which path your life takes. Think about how many questions you are faced with every day. It can be overwhelming. From the mundane to the profound, questions help you navigate everything from your daily routine to your career choices and relationships. Sometimes, asking the right question is just as important as the answer: What do you want out of life? Is it financial success? A loving family? Career achievement? Maybe you are coping with a serious illness. Whatever your goal may be, you have undoubtedly encountered barriers that slow your progress. One of the biggest of these barriers is stress. Scientific research has found that your ability to resist the damaging effects of stress—your hardiness—can reduce stress-related illness and strengthen your ability to thrive under pressure.

Hardiness, written by respected clinical and research psychologists, will help develop your psychological hardiness which, in turn, enables you to enjoy more of life’s rewards. Mastering the 3 C’s of hardiness—commitment, control, and challenge—is essential to increasing hardiness and responding effectively to stressful situations. This invaluable guide provides exercises and activities, based on 30 years of research, specifically designed to increase your hardiness in all areas of your personal and professional life. This book will help you:

  • Understand how hardiness is assessed to evaluate and improve your response to stress
  • Unlock your new potential made possible by a better understanding of hardiness
  • Examine real-life examples and case studies of psychological hardiness
  • Increase your engagement in the surrounding world
  • Capitalize on opportunities for your personal growth

Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals can help you move toward becoming healthier, more self-actualized, and increasingly satisfied with your life and future.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Introduction
  3. Chapter 1 Stress: What’s All the Fuss?
    1. Stress: It’s Unavoidable
    2. Your Body’s Response to Stress
    3. Hardiness Can Make a Big Difference in How You Cope with Stress
    4. Introducing the Three Cs
  4. Chapter 2 Commitment: Why Pursuing Purpose in Life Matters
    1. What Is the Theory Behind Commitment?
    2. What We Can Learn About Commitment from Prisoners of War
    3. Surviving Post-Traumatic Stress: Hardiness-Commitment Versus Short-Term Pleasures
    4. Increasing Commitment in Your Life
    5. Victor Frankl: Purpose, Commitment, and Meaning
    6. The Role of Commitment in Success: Jim Carrey
    7. When Commitment Leads to Calling: The Success Factor for Musicians
  5. Chapter 3 Building Commitment
    1. Take Time to Think About What Is Important and Interesting to You
    2. Are You Plagued by the Work/Balance Conundrum?
    3. Increase Your Skills and Competence in an Area That Is Important to You
    4. Take Pride in Your Past Successes and Achievements
    5. Remember the Good Things in Your Life, and Count Your Blessings
    6. Spend Time with Family, Friends, and People You Care About
    7. Pay Attention to What’s Going On in the World Around You
    8. Try Out New Things
  6. Chapter 4 The Role of Hardiness-Challenge
    1. A Tale of Two Accountants
    2. How Challenge Prepares You for Change
    3. Understanding Your Mindset
    4. Expanding the Mindset Concept Beyond Abilities
    5. Why Traditional Coping Methods Don’t Always Work
    6. Examining the “Work of Worrying” Theory
    7. Stress Mindset Versus Hardiness-Challenge
    8. How Can We Change Mindsets?
    9. Physiological Differences as a Result of Your Mindset
    10. Hardiness-Challenge and Madonna
  7. Chapter 5 Building a Challenge Mindset
    1. Changes Are Always an Opportunity to Learn and Get Better
    2. Do Not Live Every Day by a Rigid Schedule
    3. Be Willing to Change Your Plans to Meet Changing Conditions
    4. Whenever You Fail at Something, Ask: What Can I Learn from This?
    5. Try Out New Things, Take Reasonable Risks
    6. Imagine Future Positive Outcomes
    7. Do Not Dwell on Past Disappointments: Learn, Forgive, and Look Ahead
  8. Chapter 6 Understanding Hardiness-Control
    1. Taking Control When Your Body Can’t: Michael J. Fox
    2. Managing Your Internal Drives
    3. Planning an Orderly Future
    4. Control: Too Much or Too Little
    5. Can Mental Health Problems Be Related to Control Issues?
    6. Can Higher Control Have Benefits at Work?
    7. How Control Can Make You More Effective at Work
    8. How Can You Start to Improve Your Control?
  9. Chapter 7 Getting Yourself More in Control
    1. Focus Your Time and Energy on Things You Can Control or Influence
    2. Work on Tasks That Are Within Your Capabilities, Moderately Difficult but Not Overwhelming
    3. For Difficult Jobs, Break Them Up into Manageable Pieces So You Can See the Progress
    4. Plan Ahead and Gather Up the Right Tools and Resources for the Task
    5. Ask for Help When You Need It
    6. Recognize Your Successes
    7. When You Just Cannot Solve a Problem, Turn Your Attention to Other Things You Can Control
  10. Chapter 8 How Hardiness Works to Protect Health and Performance: A Look Under the Hood
    1. The Hardy Stress Response: Appraising the Situation
    2. The Hardy Stress Response: Reacting to Stress
    3. Positively Adapting to Stress
    4. Stress and the Heart: The Role of Hardiness
    5. Stress and the Immune System
    6. Putting Hardiness to Work for You
  11. Chapter 9 Hardiness at Work
    1. Driving a Bus Is No Walk in the Park
    2. Does Hardiness Influence Your Career Choice?
    3. Hardiness Scores of Healthcare Professionals
    4. What Do We Know About Hardiness and Work Satisfaction?
    5. Challenges Versus Hindrances at Work
    6. Practicing Hardiness in the Legal Profession
    7. Putting Your Hardiness to Work
  12. Chapter 10 What We Can Learn from Hardiness in High-Stakes Performance Careers
    1. Playing Out Hardiness as a Musical Director
    2. Secrets of Long-Term Success as an Entertainer
    3. Looking at Hardiness in Young Performing Musicians
    4. Hardiness in Sports
    5. Winning the US Tennis Open
    6. What You Can Learn from Increasing Hardiness Levels in Competitive Swimmers
  13. Chapter 11 The Role of Hardiness in First Responders: Police and Firefighters
    1. Hardiness and Policing
    2. One Way That Firefighters Cope with Stress
    3. Hardiness and Homicide Police Investigator Mark Mendelson
    4. Can Hardiness Help in the Selection of Police Officers?
    5. Some Things We Can Learn from First Responders
  14. Chapter 12 The Hardy Leader
    1. World’s 50 Greatest Leaders
    2. Coaching Hardiness
    3. Coaching Techniques to Build Hardiness
  15. Chapter 13 Hardiness at the US Military Academy—West Point
    1. Welcome to West Point
    2. Becoming Leaders
    3. Women at West Point
    4. Who Drops Out? Hardiness and the Ability to Persist
    5. Portrait of a Hardy Cadet
    6. Beyond West Point
    7. Making Yourself a Hardy Leader
  16. Chapter 14 Hardiness and Your Health
    1. Hardiness and Heart Disease
    2. Hardiness and Diabetes
    3. Hardiness and the Immune System
    4. Hardiness and Cancer
    5. Hardiness and Arthritis
    6. Health, Hardiness, and Social Support
    7. Hardiness and Sleep
    8. Hardiness and Health Habits
    9. Using the Three Cs of Hardiness to Stay Healthy
  17. Chapter 15 Moving From Life Stress to Life Success
    1. From Tragic Loss to Uplifting the Lives of Others
    2. Transcending One’s Circumstances
    3. From Tragedy to the World Stage
    4. New Life in a New Country: Struggles and Achievements
    5. Physical Fitness, Hardiness, and the Stress of a Child’s Life-Threatening Illness
    6. Conclusion
  18. References
  19. Acknowledgments
  20. About the Authors
  21. Index
  22. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Hardiness
  • Author(s): Steven J. Stein, Paul T. Bartone
  • Release date: January 2020
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119584452