Mental Health and Psychology
Here’s How to Increase Adversity Quotient in 6 Steps
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This article defines the adversity quotient and introduces its benefits. I provide a framework to increase it in six steps with practical tips based on my experience in the field. Paradoxically the body and mind desire comfort, but we grow with discomfort.
What is the adversity quotient, and why does it matter?
The adversity quotient was coined and popularized in the mid-1980s by Dr. Paul G Stoltz. He taught people how to turn obstacles into opportunities. He characterized the adversity quotient as the most crucial factor in achieving success. His studies made him one of the top 100 influencers globally.
The adversity quotient (AQ) refers to gaining abilities to tolerate physical, mental, and emotional obstacles and setbacks and turn them into opportunities. The higher our AQ, the better we can relate to others and adapt to our environment.
Life is full of obstacles and setbacks. I haven’t seen any human beings, animals, or plants that had a life with no problems. Every living being faces obstacles in life. It is a universal rule that we need to understand and accept. AQ can make us resilient and unflappable in life.
Educators and cognitive scientists developed processes and techniques to measure the adversity quotient. Studies indicate that the higher the AQ, the more successful the learners are.
This 2021 research published on Cell reveals that “adversity quotient were significant constructs affected on students achievement, students learning autonomy and performance. This research opens a new paradigm for studying the adversity quotient and its implication for other educational aspects.”
During my post-graduate studies, I researched the behavior of exceptional and distinguished leaders. I noticed that these leaders had a very high adversity quotient. They rewired their brain to deal with setbacks.
I also emulated their thought patterns and behavior, which enhanced the meaning of my life.
Six Tips to Increase Adversity Quotient
Based on my observations, reviews, and experience, I summarize my findings under six headings.
I only focus on the essential items to make this post digestible and valuable for readers.
Since each item is comprehensive and I wrote about them previously, I linked relevant articles for those interested in details.
1 — Accept People, Situations, and Circumstances
Acceptance is a mindfulness practice. It puts us in a psychologically advantaged position, enhancing our perspectives.
The opposite of acceptance can be denial and rejection. These negative attitudes might narrow our perspectives.
When we accept people, situations, and circumstances as they are, we can deal with them more efficiently. Solving a problem requires one to understand and accept it in the first place.
Problems cannot be solved by denying or rejecting. Without solving problems, we cannot grow and experience life satisfaction.
2 — Turn Setbacks into Opportunities
Setbacks are inevitable in life. Everyone tastes it in different forms, intensities, and frequencies.
Changing our perceptions of setbacks is a critical point. For example, when we see a setback as an opportunity for our growth, our conscious and subconscious minds respond more favorably. We can tap into our internal resources more efficiently.
A growth mindset requires acceptance, measuring events, and taking necessary actions. With a growth mindset, it is possible to turn setbacks and roadblocks into opportunities.
We also need to recognize our blessings in the process and leverage their power to solve our problems. Problem-solving is a critical skill everyone needs to be productive and healthy in life.
3 — Embrace Negative Criticism
We desire positive feedback for our behavior and actions. Positive feedback inspires, motivates, and energizes us to produce more and better.
On the contrary, we dislike negative criticism as a default. This is natural, as our primitive brain sees negative criticism as a threat. However, negative criticism can bring many benefits.
Those with a high adversity quotient accept, embrace, and even solicit negative criticism as a growth tool due to known benefits.
I documented my decades of experience in handling negative criticism in an article Here’s How I Use Negative Criticism Innovatively.
4 — Convert Envy to Admiration
Envy is a natural emotion. We all feel it when someone achieves something above our capacity and capability.
We also envy the traits of some people, such as being more muscular, energetic, good-looking, creative, productive, healthier, fitter, prosperous, and so on.
When we feel envy, we experience discontent and resentment. It usually occurs when we notice qualities, possession, and fortune in others that we don’t have and a strong desire to have them. When we engage in social comparisons, we may experience the emotion of envy naturally.
However, when we intentionally create the feeling of admiration for an enviable situation, we experience a pleasant relief. The emotion of admiration creates this beautiful effect.
When we feel admiration, we create respect and warm approval for enviable situations. By using fMRI experiments, neuroscientists identified some brain regions activated with admiration.
I documented my research and perspectives in an article titled Here’s How to Replace Envy with Admiration for a Joyful Life.
5 — Tame the Overactive Amygdala
Our anxieties and fears are generated from the primitive part of the brain. As an alert system, the amygdala always searches for threats and creates psychological and biological responses.
The primary function of the amygdala is to maintain survival. Understanding the function of the amygdala is essential to coping with anxiety, fear, and other uncomfortable emotions.
We need to understand the nature of the amygdala. It is not in our conscious control. This constraint of not being in our conscious control makes it paradoxical and challenging for our lives. It puts us in a vulnerable position of being controlled rather than controlling our thoughts and emotions.
The key point is it is possible to tame the amygdala using our neocortex. I documented my findings and perspectives in an article titled Here’s How to Deal with Amygdala Hijacks Effectively.
6 — Moving from Comfort to Stretch Zone
The body is designed to remain in the comfort zone as a survival mechanism. The primitive brain has a protective mechanism to keep us in this zone for safety and survival.
However, another part of the brain motivates us to grow. Staying in our comfort zone does not allow us to grow. Learning requires taking risks. Children cannot learn to walk without trying it and taking the risk of falling down.
I visualize our life operating in four zones, namely, comfort, stretch, risk, and danger. For me, the stretch zone is safer and more productive. I sometimes move to the risk zone but avoid the comfort and danger zones.
When we move from comfort to a stretch zone, we can make steady progress and deal with adversities, setbacks, and roadblocks more efficiently. I described these zones in an article titled Here’s How to Thrive in Two Optimal Zones: Live with joy despite the most challenging situations and keep producing.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Adverse behavior like criticisms, setbacks, and rejections are inevitable in life. They are ubiquitous, coming from unexpected directions constantly for everyone.
Dealing with setbacks, rejections, and criticism requires the proverbial thick skin. To develop such skin, we need to enhance the adversity quotient concept I introduced in this article.
The adversity quotient is a concept. However, we can turn it into a valuable skill. The key ingredients of this skill include acceptance, reframing setbacks, embracing negative criticism, turning envy into admiration, and taming our primitive brains.
As I documented in an article titled “Practical Tips for Tolerating Setbacks and Become More Resilient”, the secret to becoming an unflappable person is to rewire the brain intentionally. These six steps can be a good starting point.
Increasing the adversity quotient can also improve our health and well-being. Our bodies have to deal with a tremendous amount of adversity. Pathogens and toxins are inevitable in nature. The body must fight against them to survive and thrive.
The climate also poses risks. For example, the body must stringently regulate cold and heat to survive. Training the body with the adversity of excess cold and heat can make it stronger, as I explained in an article titled Here’s What Happened When I Experimented with Thermogenesis for Decades.
Stress is a risk to the body, but it also needs physical stress to grow. Therefore, we must regularly exercise to stay healthy and fit. In addition, stressful situations can have a hormetic effect on the body.
Hunger is another adversity against the body. But when we refrain from food for a while, such as fasting, the body activates a self-healing system called autophagy and mitophagy, cleaning harmful materials from our cells and mitochondria.
When we intentionally and gradually raise our adversity quotient for physical and psychological challenges, we can grow, survive, and thrive. We need to tolerate short-term discomfort to gain long-term comfort.
Increasing our adversity quotient can also enhance our cognitive reserves to deal with aging and the effects of neurodegenerative disorders. Effectively dealing with psychological adversities can activate neurogenesis. Enhancing the adversity quotient can improve cognitive flexibility and allow us to regulate our emotions better.
One of the mindfulness tools that we can use to enhance adversity quotient is regular meditation. It trains the brain to adapt to challenging situations sustainably. Meditation can impact our genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters.
To conclude, the adversity quotient is a critical factor that increases our performance, leading to success in life. Unfortunately, those who lack adversity quotients will depend on others, lose control, and can’t live meaningful lives.
I aim to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and write about neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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