Do I Have Intellectual Inertia? A Quiz!

Reader Stille asked an interesting question:

How does one manage to have a fulfilling professional life that also leaves time for personal development? I’ve realized that I’ve been using university to postpone becoming an adult, more or less (and I’m working on this fear of adulthood with my shrink) and one of the things that scares me is that I see vibrant, interesting young person after vibrant, interesting young person getting a job and becoming sad people who veg out in front of a screen all the time they don’t spend working and who complain endlessly about adult responsibilities meaning they don’t have time for anything. I really don’t want to turn into that sort of a person, and you’re my best model for someone who has a job *and* fun *and* continued personal development, so I could use any pointers you might have.

This is definitely a real and wide-spread phenomenon. However, I wouldn’t link it directly to getting a job. We all have to fight against the tendency towards inertia and intellectual passivity, and the age when this inertia becomes really strong depends solely on our psychological health.

When we are younger, it’s easier to hold our psychological problems at bay. The older we get, though, the more energy we need to expend on carrying this baggage. If you have ever tried lifting a heavy sack of potatoes or flour, for instance, you’ll notice that carrying it gets harder with every step. Psychological problems work the same way. They get heavier and harder to carry around every day. “I don’t have time to do the things I enjoy” translates as “I don’t have psychic energy because my anxiety has eaten it all up.”

So advice #1 is: drop the potato sack already. You are just going to exhaust yourself lugging it everywhere you go.

While we are considering dropping the sack, however, there are other things we can do to fight intellectual and personal deterioration. Under the fold, please find a quiz that will help you determine if you need to take measures to fight inertia at this point in your life. I will discuss the measures themselves in future posts.

1. How many exciting new writers have you discovered in the past year?

A. None – 0 points

B. One – 1 point

C. Two or three – 3 points

D. More than three – 4 points

2. Have you established a very close friendship with anybody new in the last 3 years?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

3. Have you ended a relationship with a formerly very close friend in the last 3 years?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

4. Have you tasted any completely new dishes in the past 6 months?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

5. Have you experienced a major change of opinion on an important issue in the past year?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

6. How many cultural events (concerts, theater, opera, ballet, museum exhibitions) have you attended without being obligated to do so in the past year?

A. None – 0 points

B. One – 2 points

C. Two or three – 3 points

D. More than three – 4 points

7. Have you developed a completely new hobby in the past 3 years?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

8. If you re-read your blog, diary or comments you made online from 5 years ago, what will be your reaction?

A. Gosh, who is this person? – 4 points.

B. I can’t say I agree completely with some of this any longer. – 3 points.

C. Exactly! This is what I’ve been saying this entire time! – 0 points.

9. Have you tried reading books, watching movies or TV shows, or listening to music in a genre that is very new to you?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

10. If the answer to the previous question was yes, did you enjoy the experience? (If the answer is no, skip the question.)

A. Loved it! – 3 points.

B. It was an interesting experiment but I’m not going back. – 2 points.

C. It was a total waste of time. – 1 point.

11. Have you made any noticeable changes to your physical appearance (including the kind of clothes you wear) in the past 3 years?

A. Yes – 2 points

B. No – 0 points.

12. If you imagine that some major socio-political change has happened and made it impossible for you to practice your current profession, that thought fills you with. . .

A. Abject terror – 0 points

B. Indifference – 0 points

C. Happiness – 0 points

D. Curiosity – 3 points

E. Sadness – 1 point

13. If you have to shop for clothes, which of the following guides your choice of the store:

A. “I’ll go to this place because that’s where I always shop.” – 1 point

B. “I’ll go to that place because I’ve never been there before.” – 2 points

C. “I will go to whichever place is on my way to work.” – 1 point

D. “Who has time or money to spend on clothes?” – o points

Results:

28-34 points – Intellectual deterioration is not in your near future. You are living a vibrant, exciting life. Keep doing exactly what you are doing. . . No, wait, it’s still crucial to shake it up every once in a while.

22-27 points – Your intellectual and personal development is progressing at a good pace but it is crucial not to slow down with time.

16 -21 points – You are doing fine but life might be getting a bit stale. Can you identify what exactly is holding you down from experimenting a bit more?

9-15 points – The situation is not dire but it’s important to keep track of your development. Try taking this quiz in a year and if the score gets lower, that might not be a great sign.

4-8 points – You know you could explore a wider set of options, right? It doesn’t always have to be same old, same old. There is a lot more fire in you than you are allowing to shine through.

0-3 – Dude, are you sure you are still alive here? I know life is tough and you have many responsibilities, but you deserve more than what you are getting out of life.

I got 23, by the way.