• You recognize that the river is the only way to get where you're going; and then...
• you plan a strategy for negotiating the river;
• you anticipate potential obstacles along the way;
• you remain open to unexpected twists and turns;
• you do what's needed to stay afloat - sometimes you paddle like crazy, other times you relax and let the river carry you;
• you master the skills for adapting to change.

To be able to go with the flow most effectively, your most important asset is the quality of resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and keep going toward your goal even more effectively than before.

  In this book we have identified 21 key principles and strategies to help you increase your resilience so that you can get better at going with the flow.

p.20-22 Everyone has a certain capacity available for adapting to change. Some have more than others, but no one has an unlimited adaptation capacity. Think of your capacity as a 'bank account' of points that you can use to pay for changes that take place in your life.

  Each change that you encounter or initiate will cost you a certain number of points based on how much it disrupts your expectations; when you run out, your ability to adapt is limited... The less change matches what you expected to happen, the more resources you consume. And you will use up adaptation capacity whether you accept or reject changes that come your way... you can see the importance of continuously enhancing your ability to absorb new changes. This involves both increasing your adaptation capacity and learning how to reduce the level of resources demanded by each change.

  The rest of this book focuses on the ideas and practices that will help you increase and manage your adaptation capacity.

p.23-24 Instead of viewing change as a mysterious event, you can approach it as a process that can be understood and managed.

  Of all the factors that contribute to adapting to change, the single most important factor is the degree to which individuals demonstrate resilience - the capacity to absorb high levels of change and maintain their levels of performance.

p.29-30 Change management is basically about expectation and perception management... 'adapting to change' means using some of your adaptation capacity to recover from a significant disruption by developing new expectations that allow you to succeed in the unfamiliar environment.

  It is possible for the demands of change to exceed your personal resources. One way to envision this is to imagine individual capacity as a sponge that can absorb a certain amount of liquid. As each change is poured into the sponge, it soaks in until the sponge becomes full. No matter how much additional change is poured in, the sponge cannot absorb any more, and the extra just rolls off.

p.57-89 Seven Facets of Resilience... Positive world view... Positive self-concept... Focused sense of purpose... Flexible thinking... Social flexibility... Organizing ambiguity... Proactive experimentation

p.87 People sometimes underestimate the ways in which structure can be helpful during change. But, in fact, this characteristic plays a critical role. The ability to build systems, plans, and structures is essential to allowing people to coordinate their efforts during change.

p.87 Identify the types of organizing structures and practices that work best for you. Figure out what helps you sort through confusing or unfamiliar situations.

p.96 The key is to have a balanced portfolio of resilience skills. You will need to be able to draw on each one, and in various combinations, for dealing with changing circumstances. By having a full range of resilience skills at your disposal, you will be better prepared to cope with any contingency.

p.96 Your odds of succeeding increase if you can learn to balance being positive, focused, flexible, organized, and proactive in any given situation. Being able to combine the various ingredients depending on the circumstances gives you a 'resilience edge' for absorbing and adapting to changes faster and better.

 We believe that the resilience characteristics operate as a system to create resilience responses. That is, each characteristic plays an important role, and a very high score on one characteristic does not really compensate for a low level of another.