How mentally flexible you are reflects your ability to deploy multiple means of coping when the going gets tough. Take this test to discover how you measure up.
1. You’ve got plans to meet up with a friend at the movies and then get pizza. An hour before you set off, your friend calls to say they’re not feeling well. It ruins your day.
2. Your teenager fails a big math test. Your partner takes away the car keys. You prefer to ask your kid what they think they need in order to do as well as they want.
3. The dream addition to your home is rejected by your community review board. It’s time to move.
4. The company your start-up is pitching as its first client is dragging its heels. A company in a completely different business comes calling. You race to develop a new expertise.
5. Your team has spent weeks developing a new project when you learn that your boss has decided on a completely different direction. The best next step is to convince the boss why your plan could work.
6. You’ve spent weeks preparing an invited talk at a conference. When you get to the podium, there is an audience of four people. You’re willing to scrap the speech, invite everyone to the front, and start a conversation.
7. Your partner just went three rounds of interviews for a highly desirable job they didn’t get and can’t stop brooding. You think it’s wise to bring them a cup of tea and call their attention to three good things they got out of the experience.
8. Your siblings are angry with you for something you did and haven’t spoken to you for months. You open your email one morning and find that one of them has invited you to the family Thanksgiving dinner they’re hosting. You accept it as a peace offering.
9. You’ve been tasked with solving a problem your team is facing. All your ideas so far lead nowhere. Despite a looming deadline, you think it’s OK to go out for a run before taking one last stab at it.
10. You and a teammate have a serious disagreement over the direction to take on a project. After things cool off, you see some merit in their idea. You keep it to yourself, because telling them would be a sign of weakness.
11. The cake you’re baking fails dramatically; it doesn’t rise. Squeezed for time to start over, you instead crumble it completely, spoon it into fancy cups, top it with some shaved chocolate, and present it as pudding.
12. Your date suggests dinner at a local restaurant. When you get there the wait is long. You notice that their take-out counter is open, so you suggest ordering dinner and taking it to a nearby park.