Adversity quotient and the pandemic

IT has been established that intelligence is neither limited to what academics can prove nor what humans can display as emotional control and self-mastery. There is a form of intelligence that determines if one can go pass through the turbulence of life and ascend towards success and happiness, no matter what. This intelligence is called adversity quotient.

The Covid-19 pandemic is probably the worst adversity that modern humanity has collectively faced so far. It may have not caused more deaths and worst economic effects than the previous world wars but the pandemic is so massive in impact that it spared no one. While humanity was busy bracing to face the disruption brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the invisible enemy rendered the advanced science and technology to retreat and challenged the whole of humankind to face the unprecedented adversity.

Survival is never enough for people who can turn adversities into opportunities. With vision anchored on dream and sustained amid adversity, the helplessness and hopelessness maybe transformed into hopefulness and helpfulness.

Adversity Quotient as a Theory

DR. Paul Stoltz, in 1997 introduced AQ and asserted that success in life is largely determined by AQ. Citing that neither intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) appear to determine one’s success, he presents AQ as a complementary conceptual framework for understanding and enhancing all facets of success, as well as a scientifically-grounded tool to measure how one responds to adversity.

AQ tells us how well one withstands adversity and the ability to surmount it. It also predicts who will overcome and who will be crushed by adversity. It becomes an indicator

of who will exceed and who will fall short of the expectations of performance. AQ predicts who gives up and who prevails.

AQ is anchored on Cognitive Psychology, Neurophysiology and Psychoneuroimmunology.

The Quitter, the Camper and the Climber

A CORE human drive is to ascend— to move forward and upward. This purpose becomes the spark of the profound energy towards what is important in one’s life. Successful people share the profound urge in striving to make progress, and in achieving goals to fulfill dreams.

But even if it is core human drive to ascend, the mountaintop remains uncrowded by peak achievers, while the base of the mountain remains comparatively populated. Examining the three types of people in the journey towards the ascent, we find individuals with different responses to enjoy varying levels of success and joys in their lives.

We encounter quitters—people who choose to opt out, cop out, back out and drop out. They abandon the climb. They ignore, mask, or desert their human drive to ascend. They just do enough to get by. They lead compromised lives, abandoning their dreams to take the easy path. In the end, they suffer far greater pain than that which they attempted to avoid in climbing. They use the language of limitations full of excuses.

There are also campers—those who go only so far to become weary and terminate the ascend upon the discovery of a smooth comfortable plateau on which to hide from adversity. They took on the challenge to climb and gain some grounds and the partial ascent may be viewed as some degree of success, feeling quite contented trading off between sacrificing the “what could be” to hang onto an illusion of keeping the “what is.” Campers create a “comfortable prison” in the camp yard, satisfied with sufficing rather than striving. They are strongly motivated by comfort in their cozy little camp yard and by fear of losing ground. Over time, the campers lose the ability to climb, until they lose grounds because they stop learning, growing and achieving. Hence, they do not reach their full potential.

Then there are the climbers who are dedicated to lifelong ascent; these are the types of people that live life fully. They are possibility thinkers, never allowing any obstacle to get in their way to ascend, who never forget the power of the journey over the destination. Climbers feel a deep sense of purpose and passion for what they do. They acknowledge that setbacks are natural part of the ascent and that change is inevitable but since they are catalyst for action, they make things happen. As they grow weary in the climb, climbers rejuvenate and re-energize for the ascent ahead towards their envisioned mountaintop. They understand adversity as part of life—by avoiding adversity, one avoids life.

AQ separates climbers from campers and quitters. When the going gets tough, quitters give up and campers entrench, while climbers dig in and ascend.

The CORE of AQ

AQ is comprised of four elements of CO2RE in an acronym, namely control, origin and ownership, reach and endurance.

People with high AQ display the internal and highly individual perception of greater control over one’s life events making them ready to take action, which results in more control. Those with sense of control develop resilience and grit.

O2 stands for origin and ownership. It asks two questions: who and what was the origin of the adversity? And to what degree do I own the outcomes of the adversity? People with high AQ consider the external origin or source of adversity with a measured dose of accurate and fair degree of self-blame to put their own role into a proactive perspective. People with high AQ have higher ownership of the outcomes through the adversity, regardless of its origin. Owning the outcomes reflects accountability, which enlarges control, empowerment and motivation that propel action.

Reach refers to how far adversity extends into other areas of one’s life. People with high AQ limit the reach of the problem to the situation at hand. They contain or compartmentalize the reach of the adversity, and, in effect, feel more empowered and less overwhelmed. They will be able to think clearly, focus and take action.

Endurance asks the question “how long will the cause of the adversity, and this adversity last?” People with high AQ consider adversity and its causes to be temporary, fleeting and unlikely to recur, which in effect bolster their ability to survive life’s darkest moments and greatest challenges like this pandemic.

AQ and the Pandemic

WE are facing a pandemic we cannot control, but our responses to the situation are choices we may control. We cannot blame ourselves for the pandemic, but can decide not to contribute to its spread. We take accountability for our actions, which reach and effect should be limited to some limited areas of our lives, but not in all areas of our lives. And our endurance is derived from our reasonable optimism that this pandemic and its effects are temporary and fleeting, and its recurrence is least likely because of the lessons we are learning neither as quitters nor as campers but rather as climbers who will leave footprints in our ascent to become greater human beings.