“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” Napoleon Hill
He would just not give up. Not even after his 39th rejection from the company, he aspired to work for . His 40th application for a job in a Tech Giant , finally, was accepted. Meet Tyler Cohen, a San Francisco, based techie, who relentlessly started chasing his dream job in Google in August 2019 until he finally succeeded in bagging one in July 2022.
He even shared a screen shot of all the emails between him and Google. “There is a fine line between perseverance and insanity. I am still trying to figure out which one I have”, he says. 39 rejections and 1 acceptance, Tyler says in his short LinkedIn post, that has since gone viral.
Perseverance is, therefore, grit and passion for very long-term goals . Perseverance is having stamina. Perseverance is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Perseverance is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
1. Growth Mindset
So how to persevere. How to build perseverance in kids to start with? Kids have inbuilt ability to build up the habit of perseverance by something called “Growth Mindset? This idea was first developed at Stanford University by Dr Carol Dweck. The principle behind the Growth Mindset theory is a simple assumption that ability to learn is not fixed. It can be altered with your effort. The theory believes that the children as they begin to read and write are more likely to persevere when they fail at times as they do not believe that failure is a permanent condition.
So, growth mindset is a great idea for building, perseverance. But we need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we’ve been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learnt.
Setbacks in our lives are a common phenomenon. Some are more prone to fail and some are less. Some face huge setbacks, some small. Whether big or small , setbacks can take a toll on our mind and beliefs . These setbacks sometimes force us to have a relook on our targets and goals.
We should be prepared to face such challenges as they come along our way to achieving our goal. Let’s learn about the methods to be adopted when faced with demanding times or unpredictable challenges.
2 . Learn to Fail Fast and Fail Forward.
Failing is learning from mistakes. We do not have to be fearful of failure. On the other hand, we have to decode the message, failure brings us , learn and act accordingly and move forward. Besides when we fail we become robust and hardy. When we fail and get up to start all over, perseverance kicks in. Hence, there is need to reshape our relationship with failure. We should see failure as harbinger of a message rather than an impediment. Simply changing our outlook with failure can herald life changing repercussions.
3 . Improve bit by bit, every day
Through perseverance and by understanding growth mindset concept, we can make an effort to improve ourselves everyday even if its 1%. With this principle at the back our mind we can see improvement in all spheres of our life .
4. Start to take calculated ventures
If one takes a calculated venture, one can possibly enter a difficult phase. But this will be another eye opener for learning to adjust and know what further steps will be required to progress .
5. Know what holds you back.
If one understands what factor is holding a person from taking a step forward, then it will be a lot more easier to persevere. Sooner you understand the issues holding you back, more you will be able to go ahead with perseverance.
6. Workout daily
Studies have shown that if 40% work has been completed, there is less likely chance of quitting. Workouts too are a great way to build up your mental toughness so that you do not give up easily. Physical workout in some form can shape up both your body as well your mind.
7. Have your support system in place
Perseverance requires active feedback and reassurances from your close circle of family and friends to keep you in a stable mental state. You may talk to them for any support or simply by opening your heart out to them when you find yourself in a difficult phase of life.
8. Targets to be kept in mind
At times when we fail, it’s a good idea to take a look at our short and long term goals . Hence it is best to jot them down in our journals for ready reference. Reaffirmations towards our short and long term goals are a great way of being on track while going onwards.
9. Milestone Reward
Upon reaching a milestone , while you move forward , reward yourself in the form of a days’ outing or a sumptuous lunch or even in the form of getting a new outfit . It could be long, arduous and a lonely journey towards achieving your goal. Rewards are a great way of reminding you of the progress made by you. It encourages you to persevere further.
10. Keep in mind your reason for starting out
Achieving your goal can be pretty daunting task. It is not those who are intelligent who mostly succeed but those who have the power to persevere and endure. Hence always have in mind why you started this journey in the first place. This will keep you focused at all time.
This way you may begin and persevere with all your might and achieve your desired goal.
