Ordinary magic, extraordinary performance: psychological resilience and thriving in high achievers

Although resilience has been referred to as 'ordinary magic' (Masten, 2001, p. 227) that is more common than once thought, the majority of research in this area has sampled individuals who have been required to react to potentially traumatic events outside of their control. The findings of this work, however, are not easily applicable to those who actively seek to engage with challenging situations that present opportunities for them to raise their performance level. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to identify and explore resilient qualities that enable high achievers to thrive and perform at extraordinary levels. Thirteen high achievers (9 male and 4 female) from eleven professions were interviewed in the UK, and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify resilient qualities that enabled the participants to thrive in pressured environments. Results revealed six superordinate themes that characterized resilience and thriving: positive and proactive personality, experience and learning, sense of control, flexibility and adaptability, balance and perspective, and perceived social support. The data highlights the multifaceted nature of resilience comprising a constellation of personal qualities that enable high achievers to excel in demanding contexts. The themes are discussed in relation to previous research findings and in terms of their implications for practicing psychologists. It is anticipated that these themes will provide practitioners with an insight into the distinct features of resilience and thriving in high achievers and help individuals to attain success and well-being in their careers

On the Thermodynamic Geometry of Hot QCD

We study the nature of the covariant thermodynamic geometry arising from the free energy of hot QCD. We systematically analyze the underlying equilibrium thermodynamic configurations of the free energy of 2- and 3-flavor hot QCD with or without including thermal fluctuations in the neighborhood of the QCD transition temperature. We show that there exists a well-defined thermodynamic geometric notion for QCD thermodynamics. The geometry thus obtained has no singularity as an intrinsic Riemannian manifold. We further show that there is a close connection of this geometric approach with the existing studies of correlations and quark number susceptibilities in hot QCD.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Keywords: Thermodynamic Geometry, Hot QCD, Quasi-particles, PACS: 12.38.-t; 05.70.Fh; 02.40.Ky; 12.40.E