accurate indicator of how well they will succeed in school, in sports, and in certain kinds of work. His theory is proven by 1988 Olympic Gold Medallist Matt Biondi. Before the Olympic Games, this U.S. swimmer was favored to win seven Golds. His first two races proved to be disappointing and commentators thought Biondi would be unable to recover from this setback. Seligman disagreed. He had given some members of the U.S. swim team a version of his optimism test before the races; it showed that Biondi had an extremely positive attitude. Instead of becoming discouraged, as others might have, Biondi bounced right back by swimming even faster, winning five gold medals in the next five races. When one thinks of brilliant people, Einstein and other such high achievers come to mind. One assumes that they were “wired” for greatness from birth. But then, one might wonder why, over time, natural talent seems to explode in some people yet fizzle out in others. This is where the marshmallows come in. Could your decision be determined by an IQ test? No. It seems that the ability to delay gratification is a master skill, a triumph of the intellectual brain over the impulsive one. It is a sign of emotional intelligence but it does not show up on an IQ test. Nancy Gibbs in her article “The EQ Factor” for Time Magazine states: For most of this century, scientists have worshipped the hardware of the brain and the software of the mind; the messy powers of the heart were left to the poets.But cognitive theory could simply not explain the questions we wonder about most: why some people just seem to have a gift for living well; why thesmartest kid in the class will probably not end up the richest; why we likesome people virtually on sight and distrust others; why some people remainbuoyant in the face of troubles that would sink a less resilient soul. What qualitiesof the mind or spirit, in short, determine who succee...
