This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedanta.
Some years ago, I got to talking with an investor.
By his own account, he was a one percenter.
Like many other successful Americans before him, he had overcome many challenges growing up.
And then he told me about the one thing in his life that made him sad.
His kids.
They were sweet and smart, but they lacked drive.
They had led easy lives.
He told me.
They didn't have the same hunger that had made him successful.
I've heard variations of the same story over the years.
People who have come through adversity will invariably tell you that their adversity played a central role in their success.
This idea that hard times make us stronger has been touted so often and by so many people that we rarely stop to ask ourselves, is there any truth to this story?
This week on Hidden Brain, we explore whether adversity is the secret sauce of success.
Iranda Jayavikrama grew up in Sri Lanka while a civil war raged in that country.
When he was 21, he moved to the United States to study.
Soon after his arrival, Iranda began to notice that Americans had a way of thinking about adversity and suffering that was new to him.
It became the start of a lifelong exploration.
Today, as a psychologist at Wake Forest University, Aranda is asking a question that is increasingly relevant in many parts of the world.