Volume 40 Number 5 | October 2026
Summary
In this article, ASCLS President Stacey Robinson explores practical strategies for building resilience in laboratory professionals. Drawing on Army resilience training, she highlights the benefits of gratitude, reframing negative thoughts, and recognizing unhelpful thinking patterns. Her message encourages laboratorians to intentionally “hunt the good stuff” and cultivate habits that strengthen mental wellbeing and perspective.
Building Resilience from the Inside Out
Stacey Robinson, MLS(ASCP)SH, SCYM, ASCLS President
When I first started in laboratory management, I worked for a colonel who used to say: “Hunt the good stuff!” For example, we’d be walking through the lab after successfully mitigating a planned water outage, and something else would go awry; maybe the LIS would go down. I’d point out that the chemistry analyzer recovered beautifully and that QC had been successful. He’d follow up with, “Hunt the good stuff!”
I took it as part of his personality, a turn of phrase he was fond of repeating. It wasn’t just his personality, though; it was a tool. The phrase comes from the Army’s Master Resilience Training (MRT) program (Reivich et al., 2011). He was using a specific, trained resilience skill—one of several the Army teaches soldiers to build psychological strength before a crisis hits, not just to recover after one.
We operate at the heart of healthcare, working demanding shifts to generate the data clinicians rely on to make decisions that impact patients’ lives. Yet in our relentless pursuit of quality patient care, we may not be as diligent in caring for ourselves. So, how can we build our own mental resilience to keep caring for our patients?
Hunt the Good Stuff
This is the skill my colonel was using. It is the Army’s phrasing for keeping a “gratitude” or “three blessings” journal: soldiers are asked to notice three good things each day and reflect briefly on why they mattered (Reivich et al., 2011).
Our brains are wired with a negativity bias, so we register and replay failures far more readily than successes (Baumeister et al., 2001). In the lab, that bias runs unchecked. We are taught to look for what is abnormal, troubleshoot it immediately if it involves an instrument, and verify and report if it’s a test result. A missed critical value or a QC problem sticks with us for days. The hundreds of accurate results and quiet shifts in between rarely get a second thought. Hunting the good stuff isn’t forced positivity or ignoring real problems; it’s a deliberate correction for a bias that already distorts our perspective.
The evidence supports this, with some caveats. A meta-analysis of 64 randomized controlled trials found that people who practiced gratitude had better mental health and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, though the effects were modest (Diniz et al., 2023). Frequency matters more than doing it “right.” A daily practice, or at least three to five times a week, yields benefits far more consistently than weekly practice (Boggiss et al., 2020). You don’t need a perfect three-item list, but you do need to practice regularly.
Understanding Your Thinking Patterns (the ABC Model)
MRT teaches another simple, yet powerful idea borrowed from cognitive-behavioral psychology: it isn’t the event itself that determines how you feel and act, but the belief you form about it in the moment, often without noticing. It’s broken into three parts: the activating event, the belief you form about it, and the emotional or behavioral consequence that follows (Reivich et al., 2011). The same event, perceived through a different belief, can produce a completely different outcome.
The gap between the event and your reaction is where mindset fills in. When a provider calls with an edge in their voice, one belief is “this is going to be a confrontation,” which shows up as a tight chest and a defensive tone before the person has even finished their sentence. Another belief about the same call is “they need this information fast, and I can get it,” which shows up as focus instead of dread. Same activating event, different belief, different outcome. With practice, we can choose which belief forms first.
Real-Time Resilience
This is the skill for the moment, catching an unhelpful belief as it happens and deliberately reframing it with evidence, optimism, or perspective (Reivich et al., 2011). What makes it “real-time” is not reflecting later but redirecting the thought while you’re still in the middle of it.
I’ve built this habit through photography, constantly reframing to find the best perspective in a shot. But a camera gives you time to move around and try again. Real-time resilience is harder.
Recently, I was giving a short, inspirational talk at a conference, and just after my opening lines, my microphone failed and had to be replaced. My reaction could have been embarrassment at the dead air and broken momentum. Instead, I reframed it on the spot: a built-in pause I wouldn’t have given myself permission to ask for, a chance to breathe and reset before starting again. That’s the skill in practice, not pretending the setback didn’t happen, just refusing to let it write your story in that moment.
The lab version of this happens daily: a run fails, and the results are questioned. The thinking trap is catastrophizing: “This is going to derail the entire shift,” or “We’ll never catch up now.” Real-time resilience is the pause before that spiral: what’s actually true here, what’s still within my control, and what’s the most useful way to see this?
Keep Hunting the Good Stuff
Noticing the good, understanding what your beliefs add, and catching yourself before spiraling are three angles on the same skill: choosing the perspectives that truly serve you. None of it has to be formal, and it doesn’t need to wait for a hard day. Evidence shows that gratitude practiced often, daily or close to it, yields far more consistent benefits than occasional practice (Boggiss et al., 2020). My colonel said it without fanfare until it became reflexive for those around him. So, start smaller than a journal. On your way out the door, ask a coworker what went well today. Mention the smooth run before the delayed one. Let “hunting the good stuff” become a habit.
References
- Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323
- Boggiss, A. L., Consedine, N. S., Brenton-Peters, J. M., Hofman, P. L., & Serlachius, A. S. (2020). A systematic review of gratitude interventions: Effects on physical health and health behaviors. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 135, Article 110165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110165
- Diniz, G., Korkes, L., Tristão, L. S., Pelegrini, R., Bellodi, P. L., & Bernardo, W. M. (2023). The effects of gratitude interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. einstein (São Paulo), 21, Article eRW0371. https://doi.org/10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371
- Reivich, K. J., Seligman, M. E. P., & McBride, S. (2011). Master resilience training in the U.S. Army. American Psychologist, 66(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021897
Stacey Robinson works in Bethesda, Maryland.