The meaning of the word adverse is hostile or critical situation. We all face some or the other adversities in life, it’s only during adversities one really comes to know who are friends and well-wishers. Like IQ, EQ, SQ there is an AQ (adversity quotient) which is a score that measures the ability of a person to deal with adversities in his or her life. One needs to increase resilience to overcome adversities in life. The term was coined by Paul Stoltz in 1997 in his book Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities. To quantify adversity quotient, Stoltz developed an assessment method called the Adversity Response Profile (ARP). The AQ is one of the possible indicators of a person’s success in life and is also primarily useful to predict attitude, mental stress, perseverance, longevity, learning, and style of responding to changes in environment.

There are umpteen examples of people who fought adversities and have become successful. The richest person in the whole world couldn’t make any money at first. Do you know that Bill Gates’ first company, Traf-O-Data (a device which could read traffic tapes and process the data), failed miserably. When Gates and his partner, Paul Allen, tried to sell it, the product wouldn’t even work. Gates and Allen didn’t let that stop them from trying again to fix the problem. Traf-O-Data helped them prepare Microsoft’s first product a couple of years later.

In the year 2000, when the entire world was celebrating the new century, Amitabh Bachchan was feeling disastrous because he had no films, no money, no company (ABCL), a million legal cases against him and the tax authorities had put notice of recovery on his house. The mega star was then in his late fifties. Yash Chopra offered him a role in his film Mohabattein. It was this time when Amitabh got a huge break through Kaun Banega Crorepati. It propelled him into national stardom and helped in the reversal of his fortunes. In my opinion, nobody can match Amitabh on Kaun Banega Crorepati.

AQ is the key determinant of success and winning in a person’s life. This does not mean that EQ and IQ are irrelevant; resilience in the face of stressful situations and in world of rapid changes determine success in life. In workplace, in business, in personal life when one faces difficulties yet fights out the problem courageously and moves ahead is a person with good AQ. Such a person is real Hero.  There is a magic that comes when one is strong enough to identify a goal and move steadily towards it while also being flexible enough to pick oneself off the ground when obscurities come in way.

It does not matter whether you are an entrepreneur, a musician, a home maker, a student, a clerk, a CEO or a plain Jane; rising to the occasion, especially during times of difficulty, should be included into the mentality of those who desire growth, development, and success. It’s effortless to remain stagnant when you are not happy, but it takes strong character to utilize how a transitional phase can work for you.

I don’t know the exact number of attempts and failures Edison had before he created the light bulb; it is debated that he failed 10,000 times. But what a great man Edison was. His response to his repeated failures was “I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work”

Across the world, organizations are emphasizing on testing AQ rather than just EQ and IQ testing. It can be difficult to test AQ, as seeing how people think and behave under pressure is not easy to simulate in an interview context. However, it is possible to screen a “fair-weather employee” from the resume; also, you can screen a hardworking employee; whether an employee can adapt to change easily or not; whether a person can cope when things get challenging at work; whether somebody is capable of taking more responsibility, or asked to do something he/she has never done before.

Look for resilience in the CV: Organizations must avoid individuals who tend to be easily discouraged when confronted with even minimal adversity. Such people will infect and weaken others in a team. They will kill the overall morale and culture. On the contrary, candidates who stuck out a job in dire circumstances even though the business subsequently closed deserve consideration. Often, such people exhibit greater depth and breadth of work experience because they have been the last persons standing and have worn many hats. The proverb “Rats abandon a sinking ship” tell a lot in an organization, when something is about to fail, large numbers of people begin to leave it. The people who leave are “rats” they are the selfish and disloyal employees. A further indication of AQ can be picked up from early life experiences of candidates who faced adversity and overcame or dealt with it.

Rewards: usually incentive structures reward contribution primarily on a origin basis. The risk with very simplistic appraisal model does not work, it may fail to reward someone demonstrating high AQ because often such employees fail to project their hard work because they get lost in solving problems or finding solution to a sticky snag, it has been observed that people, who are committed, do not run after getting rewarded for their work. Therefore, it is  important to adopt an incentive model that is sophisticated enough to acknowledge those working on difficult assignments, where they are contributing and delivering results, even when the fruits of their labor do not get fully realized.

Appreciation: A members of the team who demonstrates the highest AQ and delivers results, all other things being equal, should be promoted to a leadership position of the organization. Often, these team members will be the ones who are also the most productive and get things done as they are less prone to distraction or dissuasion by adverse circumstances surrounding them. A worker who is engrossed in his work, and is busy fixing some problem, will not have time to gossip or to advertise his achievements.

Improve your AQ:  The brain ideally is formed to create habits. First, identify the cue of a behavior, and then replace the behavior with a stronger one. The habits you have don’t have to be the same. You can start to change them straight away. Your response to adversity doesn’t have to stay the same. It can be changed, and gradually and immediately improve. We respond to adversity in constant, subconscious patterns. We have to receive feedback from others and give ourselves transparent feedback to become more self-aware about our lacking adversity quotient. Once you realize and identify how you respond to adversity, you can break off your pattern of response. Take an Adversity Quotient test. These are real tests that give you a number score just like the IQ test. Taking will tell you a lot about yourself you may have not known. There are plenty of them on Internet. Improve your AQ.

The English idiom “don’t judge a book by its cover” is a metaphorical phrase that means one shouldn’t presume the worth or value of someone/something by its outward appearance alone. Well, for ages we have been hearing this popular English phrase. But, in practice we all do the opposite. We turn someone down easily if the person is not properly attired or is unattractive. “I am not handsome but I can give my hand to someone who needs help… Because beauty is required in heart not in face….” this quote of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam gives such a strong message.

Some of insignificant looking men and women do most significant work in society. The President of Harvard made a mistake by presuming Mr and Mrs. Leland Stanford to be some worthless people and it cost him greatly. A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president’s outer office. His secretary spoke to them rudely considering them as backwoods country hicks and they were made to feel that they had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge.

For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become dispirited and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. And he signed in exasperation and nodded. The President of Harvard looking at their out appearance was rude and disgraceful towards Stanfords.

The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.” The president wasn’t touched; he was shocked. “Madam,” he said gruffly, “We can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly, “We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any possible idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded.

The president’s face drooped in confusion and seemed disorientation. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California, where they established the Stanford University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard did not cared about.

The very premise of the tale was completely incredible. Leland Stanford (1824-93) was one of the most prominent men of his time in America: He was a wealthy railroad magnate who built the Central Pacific Railroad (and drove the gold spike to symbolize the completion of the first transcontinental rail line at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869), as well as a Republican Party leader who served as California’s eighth governor (1862-63) and later represented that state in the U.S. Senate (1885-93). He was a striking figure, hardly the type of man to dress in a “homespun threadbare suit,” walk “timidly” into someone’s office without an appointment, and sit cooling his heels “for hours” until someone stooped to see him. Harvard’s president was unaware of Mr. Stanford’s standing in society.

Our society is more fixated on physical appearance; it was not so in past. Few decades ago, people were more graceful and had ethics in treating others with respect. People of great standing and intelligence prefer dressing up simply. Their knowledge, their expertise, their intellect makes them sand out in crowd.

But, these days great care is taken by all celebrities to ensure they look perfect when they are seen and to suppress all pictures of them looking less than ideal. The proliferation of these unreal images is thought to be linked with eating disorders and with many ordinary people’s dissatisfaction with their own appearance. If you see Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Ratan Tata, Elon Musk they are not flashily dressed, they don’t show off their wealth. These people rose from low to high they know the value of money and showing it won’t proliferate their wealth. They don’t flaunt on Instragram. For that matter even Instagram founder is such a simple gentleman and grounded.  Ever noticed that billionaires lead such a simple life why? Because they don’t need to prove people by materialistic things that they are rich they prove by their remarkable contribution like donations, inventions, for betterment of the society.

Our poor understanding of what constitutes attractiveness as opposed to beauty is creased. We concentrate more on our outer beauty than inner beauty. Warmth, kindness and compassion are some qualities that make a person more attractive. However these qualities are quite impalpable and difficult to define, so there is a natural tendency to overestimate the importance of physical good looks which are more easily quantified and readily visible.

It is so important to be connected to the world; we all are directly or indirectly affected by what goes around us. We cannot exist in vacuum – all by ourselves, therefore being connected with world is as important as eating and sleeping.

What does current affair comprise of

Current affairs comprise of news, information, awareness and comprehension on all that is happening in the world – it is related to every walk of life. It covers all topics ranging from business, sports, money, politics, education, employment, crime, and ethics so on and forth. It may be about rising onion prices, theft in somebody’s shop, or a terrorist attack. You may grasp the news from the television news hours, news papers, Internet, news magazines, business magazines, radio, talk shows, and word of mouth – from anywhere. I am sure all of us like news related to a particular sector, or area. But, it is advisable to be updated for your all round growth. Please do not rely on bluffers or unauthorized source of information, wrong information will not lead you anywhere. I know some youngsters gather news from their friends; this news comes with lots of twists and tweaks.

If you don’t know the government policies, laws, rules and regulations of the land, however educated you are people will tag you as “ignorant.” And there are many people out there to cheat you if you are not updated. Current affairs help us stay protected. When a person is updated he/she is a pleasure to talk to. You get information on achievements of people, organizations, NGOs, government agencies, professionals, artists and many more avenues. When we get out of our house, only our information allows us to transact with the world. Gaining knowledge in world current affairs and current events allows you to decide about your own well-being concerning your city, state, region and country. It also provides you the ability to influence legislators in a meaningful and thoughtful way.

The professional bodies while conducting examinations always test the student’s knowledge of current affairs. Aspirants who wish to crack IAS, Bank PO/clerks, LLB, PSUs, SSCs or entrance examinations like MBA, etc cannot succeed those exams without in-depth knowledge of current affairs.

If you are aspiring for a reasonable job in corporate, bank or government organization, your current affairs knowledge is tested. I have seen in number of cases where my students have gone up to the last round of interviews, when they could not discuss on some important current issues, they have lost the chances. There are two reasons for being grounded with current affairs: firstly, globalization has transformed the entire world into global village; therefore any event happening in any corner of the world has started influencing people every nook and corner. And secondly, our lives are interrelated with most happening. It’s nice to be informed about a country before a visit as this can decrease unexpected “shocks” and travel mishaps; basically about the country rules, regulations and safety procedures etc. In addition, keeping up with the news also allows you to get to know the country, people and cultures that you will encounter during your travels abroad.

How to keep in touch with current affairs

Few tips to keep in touch with current affairs:

1. Read news papers regularly. Take any newspaper of your choice. Read it daily by making a time slot for reading the news paper. Glance at it from first to last page once, and then read those important news items (of your interest) meticulously.  Make notes of important points. Make it your habit. If you’re reading about controversies, gather information of social, economic and political background of the happening. Find out what are the critical issues. Who are those people expressing their views, what are their perspectives in relation to the issue. Think about the biases. Think about the news from different angles.
2. Do a SWOT analysis of the issue. And think about solutions. You are a responsible citizen of the country and you have a view point of your own.
3. Always remember, think of a solution – you just can’t read about a crisis and leave it there. Start analyzing the situation; discuss your views with your teachers, friends, parents and others. You will hear many others views. This will give you a larger picture.
4. Join some group on Internet such as Face book/Twitter express your views. This is how you will grow.

To conclude, scientists say people who keep up-to-date with current affairs stay healthier mentally as well as physically. There are lesser chances of these people to suffer Alzheimer’s because they constantly think and analyze. And, secondly because they gather so much news they stay fit by changing their living habits in every way.

I spend a lot of time reading. Bill Gates