I once asked a mentor, “What traits do you look for in a mentee?”
He replied, “Brilliant and resilient.”
This metric points to how quickly an individual solves problems. As quizzes and tests become more difficult, less people can discover their answers. Is fluid IQ completely fixed? No. Does fluid IQ increase or decrease much once a child becomes an adult? Also, no.
Crystallized intelligence, which refers to accumulated knowledge such as skills acquired from past experiences (for example, an elderly person’s ability to do a crossword puzzle), tends to increase as a person ages; however, fluid intelligence remains relatively stable and then declines in one’s later years. Fun fact: exercise might be the only known entity that staves off cognitive decline!
Roughly 13% of the world’s population cannot read nor follow directions due to an IQ of ~83 or lower. Over 68% of people possess an IQ score between 85-115, which includes the average of 100. Only 2% of the population has an IQ of 130 or higher — these individuals tend to be highly curious, to recall information across a wide range of subjects, and to provide seemingly simple ripostes to complex questions.
What should we do, given our fluid IQ score?
The author Robert Greene, based on the research of Howard Gardner, injects nuance into the conversation around a human being’s brilliance. Greene describes different, distinct types of intelligences:
A dancer may fail a mathematics exam yet thrive under pressure on stage as she twirls, moves rhythmically, and utilizes her sensory skills. A carpenter may anger others at a cocktail party due to insensitivity yet creatively and practically design a beautiful addition on a house. A coach may bomb a physics test yet be able to empathize, encourage, and empower players on his or her team to strive valiantly.
Beyond brilliance, the second most important variable to success across all sectors is conscientiousness, working consistently and thoroughly especially when times are tough. How hardworking an individual remains amidst adversity… that’s resilience. Despite setbacks and through traumas, the ability to return to baseline behavior and perform… that’s resilience. Withstanding pressure and bouncing back, even when stretched or hurt… that’s resilience.
Jon Jones, perhaps the greatest UFC fighter of all time, was stretched to his limits in 2012 during a bout against Vitor Belfort. For several seconds in the first round, Belfort squeezed with all his might to get Jones to tap out and quit. Through excruciating pain, Jon stood up, broke free, and beat Belfort via a Kimura submission. After the fight, Jones stated: “He got that arm-bar in every way, shape, and form. I’ve never had my arm popped like that before. I don’t know, I felt it, but I work too hard to give up.” The following year, Jones triumphed in what was deemed the greatest title fight in the history of the light-heavyweight division — he went five full rounds against Alexander Gustafsson. As the victor with an extremely swollen face, Jones exclaimed: “I talked to Alexander [at the end of it all]. That was by far my toughest fight. I had to really exercise my warrior spirit tonight.” What an amazing perspective. The greatest fighter does not just rely on his body and mind, but also his spirit.
An individual’s spirit is the glue that keeps one’s mind from breaking when his or her body is bending.
There’s an adage: what does not kill us makes us stronger. The truth inside that statement lies within the capacity we build by never giving up. When we refuse to quit, and make it through tough moments, we then can say, “Tough times do not last. Tough people, like me, do.”
Call to action: Think back to at least three times when breakdowns occurred, in your own life. They were painful. You thought you’d never get through them. Yet you survived them, somehow and some way. Write down those specific breakdowns, and then describe how they eventually became breakthroughs. What do you now know that you did not know before that experience? Which specific skills did you acquire? Which qualities did you strengthen?
Confidence also comes from surviving what we once thought was unbearable. Confidence can be described as a deep knowing that we have what it takes to thrive when we momentarily survive and persistently strive.
Many combat sports shed light on extreme endurance and the power of the human soul. Mixed martial arts, judo, wrestling, boxing, for examples. Participants experience physical and psychological pain, almost every training session. Oftentimes in the middle of competitive matches, they must decide whether to quit or persist. Which is worse — giving up or hanging on until we catch on?
The following passage is one I refer back to often when I find myself in pain and discouraged.
“At a certain point, if he’s going to get to the top of the boxing profession, a fighter has to learn the difference between the truth and a lie. The lie is thinking that submission is an acceptable option. The truth is that if you give up, afterward you’ll realize that any of those punches that you thought you couldn’t deal with, or those rough moments you didn’t think you could make it through, were just moments. Enduring them is not nearly as tough as having to deal with the next day and the next month and the next year, knowing that you quit, that you failed, that you submitted. It’s a trainer’s job to make a fighter understand that difference, that the parts of a fight that are urgent last only seconds; seconds during which you have to stave off the convenient excuse — “I’m too tired” or “I hurt too much” or “I can’t do this” or even simply “I’m not going to deal with this.” Sometimes it just comes down to not floating — just being there and understanding that if you give in, you’ll hurt more tomorrow. Maybe there’s no more important lesson to learn from boxing than that.” — Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son’s Struggle to Become a Man by the renowned boxing trainer, Teddy Atlas
Each of us has moments in our lives where we must choose between easy wrong decisions or difficult virtuous ones. When we must have a vulnerable conversation… when we need to hold on a bit longer for our dreams to be realized … when a chapter of our lives feels like a mundane, everyday struggle… we must remind ourselves of our brilliance and resilience.
Hardship creates a harder ship.
Adversity reveals character.
Us at our best: brilliant and resilient!