The Magic of Perseverance
Change requires perseverance, also known as determination or grit. Perseverance is continuing to do something in spite of obstacles or difficulties. It is one of the best qualities to have because when you have perseverance, you will find a way to succeed.
To persevere we need to have faith that we actually can succeed. If we don’t believe success is possible for us, we will not be motivated to continue, especially when things get difficult. But this is the dilemma. If we don’t have much belief in ourselves, we are more likely to quit our efforts. When we quit, we obviously do not succeed and that seems to give credit to the idea we couldn’t succeed anyway. Sadly, this is a common mindset people have. They assume that they can’t succeed and they sabotage themselves.
If on the other hand, we believe we will succeed, we will not give up. We may encounter great difficulties or even defeats, but because we believe we’ll ultimately succeed, even with failures we just change our tactics or adjust our goals a little and continue to try. Because we keep trying and adjusting we greatly improve our chances of success. This is the essence of self-fulfilling prophecy.
We included a whole section on grit in our book, Mindset Wizardry – the Magic Behind Thriving in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) World. Grit is about the power and passion of perseverance, motivation and stamina to achieve long-term goals when facing extreme change or adversity.
To build grit, we need to take our best ideas and our strongest emotions and test them on the willingness to be successful, but also the willingness to fail and start all over again with lessons learned. This is how it goes: Think big. Start small. Fail fast. Learn faster.
So at the heart of success, is the ability to persevere. But how do we encourage this quality in ourselves? These are a few tips:
1) Always Show Up, No Matter What: Commit to doing what it takes to achieve your goal and commit to keep trying.
2) Be Aware of Your Desire to Give Up Too Early: Most people will be tempted to quit when things aren’t working as planned. Instead, use this opportunity to pivot and try a different approach.
3) Promise to Keep Going: Embrace failure as a part of the journey and learn from mistakes. Don’t fear failure, embrace it as an opportunity to learn.
Thomas Edison’s teacher once said that he was “too stupid to learn anything.” When he invented the incandescent light bulb, he was asked about failing so many times and his response was simply: “I have not failed, I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Watson, Sr., the Founder of IBM famously said, “the fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate.”
Perseverance is a learnable behavioral skill. When you start something new, promise yourself that you will try it for a specific period of time and won’t quit before that time is up. Make the interval of time short if you need to, but no matter what, keep your promise and DO NOT quit before the allotted time. When the deadline arrives, you can then decide if your strategy is working and you should continue in the same manner, or if you need to make adjustments. Allow yourself to abandon one strategy in favor of another after you’ve given it a fair trial, but don’t quit on your goals, change your strategies.