Perseverance is the steadfast and undying will to move forward no matter how hard the obstacles are. In other words, perseverance can be viewed as a measure of success, or at least how much a person is willing to sacrifice in order to succeed. We all know that it is impossible to achieve success without a goal and direction in which one is going, but the force that propels us heading to the road of the goal and direction is perseverance. When one perseveres, he will one day succeed and prosper no matter what. Oftentimes, people may just give up even before they offer themselves a chance to reach success. Everyone has perseverance, even when people don’t realize it. We all know that perseverance is very important, as it pushes people to achieve their goals, which means that they will have success one day. But why is perseverance important?
Perseverance can help people stay focused on their goals and push forward despite any obstacles. Even if people fail on what they are doing, perseverance helps people stay motivated to try again and work even harder toward their long-term goals. Thomas Edison, after failing one thousand times, once said “I ‘ve never failed at anything. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” Edison kept trying and eventually he invented the light bulb. Sooner or later, people will encounter a difficulty that leads them to failure. If people give up immediately, they might develop a bad habit of giving up whenever an obstacle is presented. This makes the person accomplish nothing. Therefore, people should stay focused and motivated even if the end result is not what they initially envisioned. Angela Duckworth in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance mentions that while skills, attitudes, and a basic degree of talent are important factors of success, they are not as significantly important as hard work and trying again and again to achieve the goal. Angela surveyed over 16000 American adults and found that people with perseverance are dramatically more motivated than others to improve what they do. Staying focused and motivated will pay off with better outcomes in the long run.
Perseverance could not only guide people to discover the strengths and weaknesses they did not notice before but also increase their mental health. People would surprisingly learn more about themselves, believe they can do things better than they thought, or develop new skills and other qualities that can help them be successful in the future. In the article “A Quick Note on Getting Better at Difficult Things”, Ta-Nehisi Coates describes that studying the French language is the most hardest and rewarding thing in his life. He speaks French on a daily basis, saying“ I could effectively study a foreign language. I am giving myself an opportunity to get better at difficult things.” People learn a new thing that might be difficult for them and feel depressed about it. When people preserve and overcome initial frustration through difficult challenges via trying again and again, they will realize that they actually can manage the challenge and achieve the goal. At the same time, people explore the strengths and weaknesses in themselves. In the end, people’s confidence level would be promoted because they can “win” the difficulty. A group of researchers from the United Kingdom look at the importance of perseverance in 340 University students. The results show that students with perseverance have significantly higher levels of mental well-being and self-control. Interviews with 10 successful students reveal that perseverance leads them to develop the quality of dedication and endurance while knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Perseverance helps people understand they have some potential to achieve great things if they don’t give up when times get tough.
If people can persevere through one tough challenge, they would be able to keep moving forward in the future no matter how hard the challenge would be. No one can escape from the difficulties and challenges in life. With perseverance, people can handle obstacles during their whole life, no matter how hard the obstacle might be to cross. In “I Never Had It Made” by Jackie Robinson, a famous African American ballplayer, Jackie resisted the insults of white people who didn’t want him on the team. He didn’t just because of the comments that he left the team. He wanted to play baseball to show that African Americans also could do more things. Perseverance is like a path to success. Along the path there are many dangers that await the adventurer, but if there is no perseverance one cannot escape the barriers. When seeing a rock in the path, people with perseverance will find a way to go around the rock or find some way to crack the rock. Carolyn McCutcheon in 2014 conducted a study “Perseverance and Persistence in Achieving Educational Goals” about 134 adult students who returned to complete high school diplomas at an adult charter high school. The data showed that adult students with high levels of perseverance are more successful in reaching their educational goals. 5 interviews revealed that they completed their high school diplomas when the reasons for their lack of success were resolved. Perseverance is an important life skill that people should develop with their lifetime.
We all want to be brilliant, creative, and successful individuals. But in order to get there, we need that perseverance to allow us to achieve success in the face of obstacles. Perseverance is a necessity in life. There is nothing difficult for one who has perseverance. Perseverance is a skill that can help people stay focused and keep working hard though difficult challenges. Once people defeat the difficulties, perseverance helps people realize they are better than what they originally thought and they learn more about themselves. People won’t be successful at everything in life without perseverance because perseverance makes it easier for people to face the obstacles during their whole life. Everyone has perseverance and everyone is capable of doing persevering. Even if a person is not very talented or highly knowledgeable, he can still be successful in life simply by his perseverance.
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