Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to thrive.
Jamais Cascio

Scoring the Quiz

To score the resilience quiz:

• for each answer in column A score 10 points
• for each answer in column B score 7 points
  
• for each answer in column C score 4 points
  
• for each answer in column D score 1 point
  
• for each answer in column E score 0 points
  

The maximum score is 150, and the higher the score the more resilient you are likely to be.

How to Improve Your Scores

Sleeping well Make sure you're routinely getting a good night's sleep, and if you find that your sleep is regularly disrupted or poor, do something about it. There's lots of information online about how to improve sleep, and you can also check out the sleep workshop that I run.

Optimism We're all wired differently and it serves no purpose to tell people to be more optimistic, to look on the bright side. It just doesn't work, and at best it can be extremely patronising. It is, though, possible to learn to be more optimistic and there are a range of techniques to achieve this. Two quick examples of this are firstly spending a bit of time each day to celebrate what has gone well, however seemingly insignificant the event, and secondly by making time to recharge, however brief the time. There is plenty of information online and you can find out more about the workshop I run on happiness. 

Eating well The importance of a balanced diet cannot be overstated. The challenges of maintaining a balanced diet during a cost of living crisis also cannot be overstated. The only positive is that in response to the challenges there is a plethora of information out there to keep a good diet while managing tight finances.

Reducing your alcohol consumption The information is out there. Do with it what you will.

Exercise If you're having sudden visions of having to join a gym and clad yourself in lycra, relax. Join a gym if you want, become a member of a running or cycling club if that's what does it for you. Take the Couch to 5K challenge (click here for more information). Anything that get you moving. There's some great information from the NHS here. And, always take medical advice before you start exercising, particularly if you have been inactive for an extended period of time.

Reframing unwanted outcomes When events turn out differently from how we wanted, it can feel like failure, defeat, and the more time and effort expended, the greater the disappointment. Experience the negative emotions (it's OK to feel bad), and then look at what you can do differently to get the outcome you want. It's also worth remembering what you have​ gained despite the outcome being different from what you wanted.

And, of course, there are many other things that we can all do to increase our resilience. I explore many of these in my 7 Steps to Happiness workshop. It's about finding what works for you and what, over time, moves you into a more positive, more optimistic, more resilient state. You know that you can do it.