what i really wanted to talk about..
was the "Grant Study"-
Grant Study - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
basically.. starting from healthy, robust young men attending harvard
researchers tracked what happened and what became of them until death (or 90+)
the final report was framed as a happiness index
from the men's own words (journals, interviews, questionaires)
gathered periodically over several decades
who reached senior age at peace and respected with accomplishments
versus who killed themselves, went insane, etc, or just managed to "survive" life but were deeply bitter and estranged from others
the key factor was if the men sought and maintained meaningful relationships with others
anyway, we (on the coli) can't take two pieces of information
( iq and educational achievement)
and conclude how that person spends their time, or what they might accomplish in life, or who they rub elbows with
such people might end washing cars or become real movers/shakers
but staying power- the ability to keep moving through the vicissitudes of life
came down to how you treat others, and how you seek out interactions with agreeable/positive people, and also how you cut negativity out of your life when necessary
reading about some of the "failures" of the grant study was eye-opening
how they might outwardly tick off a lot of boxes that suggest great promise
but their internal problems kept them at very low functioning levels
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