Book Review – Gist In A Glimpse - Stronger

A book, Stronger Develop the Resilience You Need, is written by three authors all with Ph.Ds. George Everly, Jr., Douglas Strouse, and Dennis McCormack have combined their education and experiences into a book for those who want to develop a stronger resilience and unlock their personal power. Everly is known as one of the fathers of modern stress management, Strouse is a recognized expert on business resilience and McCormack is a pioneer in special operations leadership.

Stronger identifies five factors that combine to unlock deep reserves of personal power: 

• Active optimism-believe that you can change things for the better. 
• Decisive action- you can’t succeed if you don’t take the leap. 
• Moral compass- face any challenge with clear guiding principles. 
• Relentless tenacity-try, try again. 
• Interpersonal support- gain strength from those around you.

How many times have you ever wondered why some people seem to thrive under remarkable pressure while you or others you may know have such difficulty getting past the hard times in life? The authors share what they feel are the differences between those who crumble or stumble when life gets tough and those who stretch their emotional muscles and say this is just a bump in the road. Even the strongest of people can benefit from reading the book because of the motivators found throughout the pages.

The book is written with two simple themes, “Tomorrow is the first day of your life,” and “Anything worth having is worth failing for.” The authors offer “Homework” and “Self-Assessment” pages where they want the readers to fill in and follow up with their lives. There are also many case studies and examples given by the authors. There are many surprises in this book such as the description for failure. The authors describe failure as a gift. The book describes how athletes like Michael Jordan and Cal Ripken failed multiple times and still became two of the most recognized athletes in the world.

Recommendations: 

This is a didactic book and I recommend it to readers looking for something to motivate them past the struggles with disappointment, chaos, or failure. The goal of this book is to help you develop resilience and to do well, not crack, under pressure. The reader will assess everything from toxic thoughts to one’s moral compass.