The 5 Pillars of Self-Reliance

What are the 5 Pillars of self-reliance and why are they so important?

While the goal of self-reliance sounds like a positive thing to strive for, it can be a difficult thing to make tangible. The 5 Pillars of Self-Reliance, developed by Richard Krohn, are:

• Lifestyle
• Work Satisfaction
• Financial Security
• Sense of Self
• Personal Integrity

The 5 Pillars provide an excellent guide for developing educational resources and experiences for helping young people become self-reliant. We have also used these factors to develop the Self-Reliance Matrix, a tool that young people (or anyone) can use to self-assess their self-reliance and clearly map out areas for improvement.

1. Lifestyle

Your lifestyle is how you live and reflects your personal values, beliefs and attitude towards life. Your lifestyle will, in part, be governed by where you live (i.e. urban or rural), your living conditions, the work you do, your culture, ethnic background, education, political views, religion, spiritual beliefs, level of health, behaviours, habits, and personal interests.

Examining this lifestyle factor will involve considering questions such as:

• What is your current lifestyle?
• Are there things that are constraining your current lifestyle and affecting the choices you make?
• How might these be overcome?
• Take a moment to visualise what your ideal lifestyle looks like.

2. Work satisfaction

Whether you work full-time, part-time, casually, are a stay at home parent, or do volunteer work, the way you feel about the work that you do is an extremely important element in your life.

Work satisfaction encompasses several factors including the conditions you are working under, the nature of the work, the organisation you are working in, who you are working with, the appreciation and recognition you receive for the work you do, your job security, whether you have opportunities to grow and develop, the policies and procedures you have to follow, opportunities for promotion, communication channels, and reporting and supervision. 

This combination of factors will contribute to your feelings of stress, well-being and overall work-life balance. As a result, your work satisfaction will fluctuate as each of these factors continuously shift and change. 

You will most likely have a variety of different jobs throughout your working life. However, your ability to adjust to change and accept the consequences of certain things that are out of your control will play some role in your level of work satisfaction.

Examining this lifestyle factor will involve considering questions such as:

• What areas of your work would you like to change and why?
• Describe the factors that need to be present for you to feel fully satisfied with your work.
• Explain how each factor contributes to a feeling of satisfaction.

3. Financial securit

Can you identify how much money you need to fund your lifestyle whilst also working towards your financial goals? Earning, spending and saving money are the backbones to your financial security but it’s important to keep in mind that how you feel about your financial situation is also an element of this equation.

If you think that managing your own financial matters is beyond you, then keep in mind that many people who give control of their finances over to others often find themselves in situations where they get taken advantage of, or completely lose power of their financial situation. 

Examining this lifestyle factor will involve considering questions such as:

• What are your financial requirements and goals?
• Could you be satisfied with less if your situation changed suddenly?
• Do you have an emergency fund if you lost your job or had to cover unexpected medical expenses?
• How would you manage a sudden windfall so that it didn’t slip through your fingers?
• What do you need to feel financially secure now and for the future?

4. Sense of self

A sense of self is the awareness of who you are and how you feel about yourself. Your sense of

self also governs your behaviour and how you relate to other people. If you don’t have a strong sense of self, you may suffer from self-doubt, self-criticism and indecisiveness.

Taking time to get to know yourself will set you on the path to personal growth and development.

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, discovering your personality type and defining

your values will help in achieving your goals.

Examining this lifestyle factor will involve considering questions such as:

• How do you perceive yourself?
• How do you relate to others?
• Do you find it easy or difficult to set boundaries with others?
• What aspects of yourself would you like to improve to feel more confident and in control of your life?

5. Personal integrity

Personal integrity is having a strong moral code and living up to the principles you believe are important, everyday of your life. Honesty, truthfulness, responsibility, accountability, and consistency of character are all important elements of integrity. 

Personal integrity is demonstrated by your actions, whether someone is watching you or not. It relates to how you treat people - both people you know and those that you don’t. Personal integrity also means taking responsibility for your actions.

You stick to your principles when it comes to what you want in life and the type of person you want to be. There may be times when you don’t act in a way that aligns with your values. However, having some awareness of when this happens and taking steps to return to integrity in future situations is an important part of the personal integrity journey.

Examining this lifestyle factor will involve considering questions such as:

• What moral and ethical codes do you believe in?
• Why are they important?
• How do you demonstrate your personal integrity in different situations?

If the goal of building up the inner resources of today’s youth by teaching them self reliance resonates with you, we would love to hear from you.