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Adversity Quotient

The document discusses the Adversity Quotient (AQ), which measures a person's ability to deal with hardship. It is divided into four dimensions: control (C), origin and ownership (O2), reach (R), and endurance (E). People with a higher AQ are more resilient when facing adversity, are top performers, stay optimistic, and persevere through challenges. They view obstacles as opportunities. The document advocates for continuously pushing one's limits through self-improvement, which is defined as "ascending" in life, rather than giving up or plateauing with only partial success.

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Dhaila Telan
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76 views2 pages

Adversity Quotient

The document discusses the Adversity Quotient (AQ), which measures a person's ability to deal with hardship. It is divided into four dimensions: control (C), origin and ownership (O2), reach (R), and endurance (E). People with a higher AQ are more resilient when facing adversity, are top performers, stay optimistic, and persevere through challenges. They view obstacles as opportunities. The document advocates for continuously pushing one's limits through self-improvement, which is defined as "ascending" in life, rather than giving up or plateauing with only partial success.

Uploaded by

Dhaila Telan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TELAN, Dhaila Josepha B.

Adversity Quotient RRL

The Hardship Quotient (AQ) is a measure of a person's capacity to deal with adversity on a daily
basis. People who are unable to deal with hardship get quickly overwhelmed and emotional, and
then withdraw and give up. Those who manage hardship well become today's and tomorrow's
leaders. This Hardship Quotient indicates how effectively a person handles adversity and his
capacity to overcome it. It can also forecast who will endure hardship and who will be crushed,
who will outperform and who will fall short of their performance and potential. Finally, it can
anticipate who will give up and who will win. (Stoltz, 1997)

According to Stoltz (2000), the higher one's AQ, the more likely he or she would be resilient in
the face of adversity, a top performer and able to sustain high performance, truly optimistic and
able to take required risks, thrive on change, and stay healthy. Furthermore, someone with a
higher IQ is energetic, lively, takes on difficult and complicated problems, perseveres, innovates
to discover answers, is an agile problem solver and thinker, and finally, they learn, develop, and
improve.

The Adversity Quotient is divided into four sub-sections or dimensions: C, O2, R, and E. The
letter C (control) denotes the degree of perceived control one has over a negative occurrence or
scenario. The terms O2 (origin and ownership) relate to how a person seeks for the source of
unfavorable occurrences and the extent to which an individual is ready to own the result of the
adverse action. Taking responsibility for the outcome demonstrates accountability. R (reach)
represents how far hardship stretches into other elements of a person's life. Finally, E
(endurance) is a measure of endurance that examines how long hardship and its causes will
persist in one's own life. (Stoltz, 1997)

We are born with the primal human desire to rise. According to Stoltz (1997), ascending does not
involve floating in a lotus position into the clouds while meticulously repeating your mantra, nor
does it indicate merely climbing up the corporate ladder, purchasing a mansion on the hill, or
amassing riches. Whatever your ambitions are, Ascend is about pushing your life's mission
forward. Whether your goal is to increase market share, improve your grades, improve your
relationships, get better at what you do, complete an education, raise excellent children, grow
closer to God, or make a significant contribution during your limited time on Earth, the drive is
essential.

The fundamental human impulse to climb is our natural race against the clock to complete as
much of our mission, written or implied, as we can in the little time we have. The individual's
ascension is not the only one. Every business and work team strives to advance and improve.
Total quality programs, growth initiatives, reengineering, restructuring, harnessing the potential
of a diverse workforce, lowering cycle time, cutting waste, and promoting creativity are all
endeavors to climb a mountain beset by avalanches, bad weather, and unexpected crevasses.

Without a question, there are many people who choose to opt out, cop out, or drop out. They are
known as the Quitters. Quitters forsake the ascent. They turn down the chance presented by the
mountain. They ignore, conceal, or abandon their essential human need to Ascend and, with it,
much of what life has to offer. The Camper, these people go only so far, and then say, “this is as
far as I can (or want to) go.” Weary of the climb, they terminate their Ascent and find a smooth,
comfortable plateau on which to hide from adversity. They choose to sit out their remaining
Unlike Quitters, Campers have taken up the task of the Ascent. They've made some progress.
Their path may have been simple, or they may have made many sacrifices and worked hard to go
as far as they have. Some may consider their partial ascent to be "success" in the final, decisive
sense of the word. This is a widespread misconception among those who see success as a goal
rather than a journey. However, even if Campers were successful in reaching the campsite, they
cannot keep their success unless they continue to Ascend. The Ascent is defined by one's lifetime
growth and betterment of oneself.

Regardless of history, advantages or disadvantages, disaster or good fortune, the climber


continues the Ascent. They are the mountain's Energizer Bunnies. Climbers are potential
thinkers, never letting age, gender, color, physical or mental impairment, or any other
impediment stand in the way of their ascent. Stoltz (1997)

Stoltz, Paul G. (1997) Adversity Quotient: Turning obstacles into opportunities. Canada: John
Willey and Sons, Inc.

Stoltz, Paul G (2000) Adversity quotient at work: Make everyday challenge the key to your
success-putting principles of AQ into action. N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc.

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