Grit. Resilience. Robustness. How do these words translate to you living an Optimal Life?

By Dr. Paul G. Stoltz

I am in the Calgary airport, heading back to PEAK’s Base Camp after an exhilarating all day AQ® Optimal Life session with 130 REIN Members this past Saturday. What a great city!

During the breaks at the event, there were lineups of folks with so many rich, important questions relating to real estate and life. I thought I’d tackle a couple of the juicier ones in this month’s blog.

1) Is there really a relationship between a person’s AQ® (Adversity Quotient®) and their real estate investment success?

Yes! Or as we nerds say, “The statistics appear that is indeed the case.”
Here’s what our research and the research of my colleagues around the world shows:

• It’s not just what you invest in, but how you respond when things go bad that determines the ultimate financial returns you will enjoy. This is why AQ® has helped spawn a whole new sub-industry called ‘Behavioral Finance’ which shows that how you behave with your investments is as important or even more important than the investment itself.
• The higher a person’s AQ®, the more ‘gut’ they have for risk, and the more calm they tend to stay when the unexpected hits. They are less likely to spark a costly panic response.
• For some reason (or perhaps many reasons), people with higher AQ® scores tend to enjoy greater wealth and financial security than lower AQ® individuals overall. They also tend to enjoy happier, more accomplished and fulfilling lives.
• Among entrepreneurs, AQ® is predictive not only of how much money one makes, but how much innovation one cranks out – which might be part of the reason those people are making more dough!
• Being a real estate investor requires the right information, strategy and fortitude. Staying the course when others don’t requires a solid dose of AQ®. This has real impact on your results.

2) What is the difference between Grit and Resilience? And which is really more important?

Whether we’re talking about your success as a real estate investor or your overall quality of life, both Grit and Resilience are vitally important. I’ll even throw in a third factor: Robustness. Although these may sound similar, they’re different enough to earn your attention and consideration.

Ponder these definitions:

Grit—Your capacity to tenaciously sacrifice, struggle and persevere in your relentless pursuit of worthy goals.

Resilience—Your capacity to respond constructively to and be strengthened by adversity you face.

Robustness—Your capacity to maintain your ‘best self’ despite the unexpected things that might otherwise damage, diminish or deplete you.

Grit is the “Do you have what it takes?” factor. It’s how much, how well and how long you can dig deep to do whatever it takes to reach your goals.

Resilience is the response factor. It’s about how you respond when big or small adversity strikes.

Robustness is the wear and tear factor. It answers the question, “At what price?”

There are people with tremendous Grit, even strong Resilience, who are not terribly Robust. Think Churchill and Lincoln. Churchill, known for his utter relentlessness and famous words, “Never, never, never quit!” was the embodiment of Grit. Lincoln, who sprung back from every setback and failure only to achieve a bigger victory, was the poster child for Resilience. But both suffered severe depression, or what Churchill called, “The Black Dog.” Until now, standard psychological theory could not explain this yawning gap in their emotional state. Robustness is the missing piece.

For most people, even those with substantial Grit and Resilience, life wears them down, diminishing them and their joy for living over time. What the science of AQ® reveals is that this does not have to be your fate. By focusing on and growing your AQ, you can join the ranks of the rare, robust few who continue to burn bright, maintaining their ‘best selves’ through all of their days.

Grit. Resilience. Robustness. As an investor, as a friend, parent, coworker, boss, leader, as a human being… you need all three to truly live and enjoy an Optimal Life.

Paul G. Stoltz, Ph.D. is the Founder and CEO of Peak Learning and the science behind Adversity Quotient® (AQ®) – the science of human resilience.