GCFL
GCFL is one's general capacity for life. It is the range and intensity of environments and demands that one can withstand and grow from. Children, the elderly, the self-limiting, and the disabled have lower GCFLs. CEOs, Navy SEALs, and working parents with five kids have high GCFLs. Heroes (real and mythical) generally have a high GCFL, and having a high GCFL makes you more likely to become a hero, or perhaps an anti-hero.
You can assess your GCFL by comparing your abilities to a theoretical ubermensch. Can you locomote (walk, run, bike, swim, paddle, climb) easily? Can you open jars and carry an injured person? Can you sit upright or stand for long periods of time without pain? Can you see, hear, smell, and taste well? Can you tolerate heat, cold, noise, hunger, dirt, sun, itchy clothing, and minor viral/bacterial load? Do you depend on any drugs (including SSRIs, caffeine, and sugar) to remain even-keeled? Can you reach high places and manipulate small objects?
Can you make new friends and nurture existing relationships? Can you lead a team and follow a leader? Can you offer condolences and congratulations with equal ease? Can you diffuse tension and set and respect boundaries? Are you helpful and gracious? How many jokes do you know?
Are you calm under pressure? Do you respond positively to feedback? Do you grow in response to failure?
Can you drive and navigate public transit of various forms? Can you cook a meal from scratch? Are you able to navigate bureaucracies like the DMV and the IRS? Can you arrange and decorate a room so it's functional and beautiful? Can you adapt your appearance to changing circumstances? Can you replace a button and unclog a sink? Can you set and follow a budget?
How broad is your background knowledge? How many languages can you read, speak, or write in? What skills do you have that people will pay you for? How good are your research skills? Can you make important decisions quickly?
Fortunately, GCFL is highly trainable, though it probably helps to be both psychologically stable (low neuroticism, high conscientiousness) and pliable (intelligent, novelty-seeking, extroverted). If you're serious about increasing your GCFL, then create a stable environment for yourself (physically, financially, socially) - this will increase your GCFL all on its own and also increase your future potential. Then start cutting out the crap in your life (soda, tv, whiny people) and start filling your time with active pursuits. Do something. Do anything. Do everything. Just do.
Here are some possible tests for GCFL. They are written with the K-12 student in mind, to be repeated annually with progressively higher standards, but many could be completed at any age.
Fundamentals #
This area includes reading, writing, arithmetic, and science skills.
- Take a standardized test at an appropriate level, working up to college-level exams like the GRE if precocious. Academic competitions also count.
- Make/build a commonly-used tool/device/appliance. Identify its greatest weakness and build a version that fixes it.
Social studies #
- You are dropped to [location] in [year]. You have only what you are wearing right now. What do you do in the next hour, day, week, month, year, and decade to survive, thrive, and perhaps change the course of history?
- Consider the [finances/social dynamics/health care/energy use/judicial system/social dynamics] of your family, neighborhood/community, city, state, and country. Explain how and why they differ and how this affects people's behaviors.
- Describe your ideal form of government. What does it do well compared to other forms of government? What are its weaknesses?
- Analyze a bill currently being debated in the legislature. How would you vote on the bill?
Practical skills #
- Make $x from a product or service of your own devising. Manage $y (supplied by your parents) to provide for your own [growing list of necessities].
- Do as many push-ups and pull-ups as you can. Lift the heaviest rock that you can. Push the heaviest vehicle you can across a parking lot. Run 1 mile as fast as possible. Hike as far as you can in 10 hours with 25% of your bodyweight on your back.
- Cook a meal for 8 people. Fix something broken around the house.
- Make something beautiful and put it on display. Make something functional and use it.
- Mediate a conflict. Persuade someone of a view they're initially skeptical of. Present on a mundane topic to a group of people.
Remember: fitness is the ability to tolerate and generate extremes, both physically and mentally. If you find yourself gravitating to tamer environments with fewer stressors, that is a a sign you are losing GCFL.
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