News & Notes - APTC
Are you a survivor? Recently in Tampa, Florida a boating accident claimed the lives of two NFL football players as well as a former University of Southern Florida football player. Why did three of the four young, athletic men lose their lives? When the three men who clung to the boat for hours released their grip and floated out to sea, did they lose their resolve to survive the ordeal? No one can really answer that question. But, the lone survivor claimed to have remained focused on a vision of his mother and adopted a life-saving mantra, "My mom is NOT going to attend my funeral." All of his energy went into this meditative vision, focusing solely on his mother. That young man, Nick Schuyler, was rescued by US Coast Guard officials 48 hours later, still gripping the overturned vessel many miles from the site of the incident. In critical condition, he was still repeating his motivational chant and was focused on his mother. Nick never lost hope.
Each type of survivor persona has a unique approach to dealing with crisis. For example, realists understand that bad things actually do happen, which enables them to prepare for those eventualities. And when something happens, they’re ready to take action because they’ve rehearsed it in their minds. Let’s face it, with life comes crisis; no one escapes it. But, your chances of survival are greater if you understand your survival type and formulate a strategy. It’s kind of like having your own, personal fire escape plan; that which provides the strategy to overcome adversity.
I am currently reading The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood; a fascinating book about survival personalities. It is an insightful exploration of the nature of survival, the resilience of the human body and psyche in the face of adversity and the power of the human spirit.
You can take the Survivor Profiler on line at http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/49663ddbe1f1df02 and immediately receive an accurate and perhaps surprising report on your crisis personality. Knowing your Survivor Profile and strengths is powerful information that can help you deal with any challenges that you may face in life. I took the profiler test and the results revealed that I am a Thinker like Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.
Another commanding tool is the Recession Survivor IQ test. It can be found on the website listed below. Discover your recession survivor IQ by taking a quick, ten question on-line, test to gain insight on how well you will survive a recession.
Survival isn’t just a matter of seeing how long you can endure before being voted off of the island. It’s your attitude and behavior that dictate how you will deal and cope with stress in a time of crisis. So, what is your survivalist mentality? Are you a thinker, connector, realist, fighter or a believer?
It’s a well known fact that hope is the most universal survival skill known to mankind. It’s especially important in these rough economic times that we remember to keep hope alive. Besides, it’s unlikely that a gaggle of geese will get sucked into your plane's engines on your next flight.
Visit http://www.thesurvivorsclub.org. The Survivor Profiler is located beneath the date in the upper right hand corner of the home page.
Until next time, keep the hope alive!
- Tayba Tahir, Director of APTC