Persistence is a Tool for Attaining the Life You Want
Yesterday a client and I discussed his mixed feelings about a conversation he’d had with a businessman from the community. The young man is having conversations with a variety of my business friends in an attempt to narrow his choices in a college major. (Investigative conversations are a great discernment tool.) He hadn’t expected to get grilled by any of these people, so it threw him off when my friend Jack asked him, “What are you reading these days?” When my client hem-hawed an answer Jack finished, “because what you put in your mind will guide your thoughts and actions.”
I’ve been thinking about what I put in my mind lately. There are too many negative voices in our world right now; too many perspectives that influence the way we think, the amount of hope we have, and the things we think we can achieve through our lives. To quote my long-time friend and exceptional therapist Melanie McGhee, we need to start asking “Is this helping me?” about what we’re putting in our minds and hearts.
So, I went back and found an old article online that I found very helpful. I’m reprinting it here, but want to be sure you know it was written by Ben Dean, Ph.D. while on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Since my last article was on how essential Small Achievable Steps are to attaining your life and work goals, I thought Ben’s article on Persistence would make an excellent addition to the series. If you would like to read the original then click here. It’s a scholarly article, so its structure may seem odd to some of you, but stick with it because it’s really helpful!
PERSISTENCE
by Ben Dean Ph.D.
Persistence Defined
Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. Christopher Morley
Persistence is defined as "voluntary continuation of a goal-directed action in spite of obstacles, difficulties, or discouragement" (Peterson and Seligman, 2004, p. 229).
Just as fear is a prerequisite for courage, challenge is a prerequisite for perseverance. Simply measuring how long someone sticks with a task does not adequately capture the essence of perseverance because continuing to perform something that is fun or easy does not involve the overcoming of obstacles or disappointment.
Persistence and Success
It was tempting to begin this newsletter with a "little-engine-that-could" story about some famous person who began his or her career with nothing but achieved great success through dogged perseverance. By now we know that Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb on his first try; rather, he put more than 6,000 substances to the test before he discovered that carbonized cotton thread makes a nice filament for the electric light bulb. "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration." Whether or not Edison actually said this is open to debate, but the message is undeniably attractive. Attractive, yes, but is it true?
To be more accurate, the 99% perspiration/1% inspiration formula needs to make room for the strength of wisdom/perspective. Persistence needs a partner. Some goals are truly impossible to reach, and some outcomes are simply unavoidable, and it takes wisdom to know when it is time to quit and move on to something else (Janoff-Bulman & Brickman; 1982). As Kenny Rogers says, "You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em."
Persistence and Self-Esteem
In general people with higher self-esteem are more likely to persist on a difficult task than people with lower self-esteem. This seems intuitive. If you believe you are a competent person with a good chance of succeeding at most things, you are less likely to quit.
What seems less intuitive is the following finding: People tend to persist longer at solving problems when they are told that what they are doing is difficult as opposed to easy. Why? Failing at a task that everyone else finds easy can be humiliating and damaging to self-esteem. In contrast, there is minimal shame when one fails a widely acknowledged difficult task (Starnes & Zinser, 1983; Frankel & Snyder, 1978)
A pernicious phenomenon called self-handicapping is a particular instance of failing to persist. Most often the term is used in the context of a failure to be persistent at practice or in preparation for a major task. Again, self-esteem comes into play. If one fails to persist in studying before a major exam, then failure can be explained (and self-esteem preserved) by blaming the failure on lack of practice rather than low ability.
Persistence and Rewards
When individuals have been rewarded in the past for effort (sticking with a task), they are more likely to persist on a future task-even if that future task is not directly related to the first (Eisenberger, 1992; Eisenberger & Selbst, 1994).
Remember this if you are an employer or a parent! But also remember that some rewards are better than others.
Certain extrinsic rewards undermine persistence. People who perform tasks for money, prizes, or awards tend to lose interest in performing a task for its own sake (Deci, 1971; Harackiewicz, 1979; Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973). If the reward becomes unavailable, then persistence drops off sharply. In contrast, persistence is encouraged when a reward conveys positive feedback about competence and increases the intrinsic motivation for doing the task.
Developing Persistence
The following exercises for building persistence were adapted from a list provided by psychologist Jonathan Haidt at the University of Virginia:
Finish a project ahead of time.
Notice your thoughts about stopping a task, and make a conscious effort to dismiss them. Focus on the task at hand.
Begin using a time management aid of some sort (a palm pilot, a daily planner, etc.). Find a system that works and actually use it.
Set a goal and create a plan for sticking to it.
When you wake up in the morning, make a list of things that you want to get done that day that could be put off until the next day. Make sure to get them done that day.
As always, I' will gladly talk with you by phone or in person if you want to discuss or explore this topic in greater depth.
My Best to You! Dr. Jim