Determination – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

Decision and action

"Discipline beats talent," a client told me last week. I have also read that practice makes perfect, along with a string of sayings that always lead me to the same conclusion: it is often better to start, just start, than to stand still, as I used to, thinking and chewing over the best path or the best way to approach something. I have also long been interested in reflecting on what lives on one side of a decision and on the other side of action. Today I conclude that far off on one side is a person’s purpose, and far off on the other is the objective achieved. Halfway between them sits the question: where do I start? Which path should I take? I have written about willpower, and about taking the reins of our own destiny and owning our results without waiting for anything or anyone to solve them for us. Today I am thinking about determination and the main traits of a determined person or a determined team.

Determination is a state of life we can remain in constantly. It springs from an inspiration rooted in our purpose and grounded in clarity about the objectives we want to reach. A determined person has a unique strength: a body of basic knowledge that lets them feel they are standing on solid, unshakable rock as they face what lies ahead. Here I think of firefighters and their determination to save someone trapped in a fire. A firefighter is a human being determined in his work. To save a child from a fire, knowing that his own safety always comes first, second and third, he has the knowledge to weigh and accept the risk of protecting his own life while saving someone else’s.

A leader we admire, whatever the example, is a supremely determined person, and so is a determined team or group. Just look at a fire station to see people committed to their profession and extremely determined. Another example is a lifeguard on the beach, a person or group of people determined in their mission to save lives. Determination produces results, and results are the best proof of leadership. We also have to be on the right side of ideas to be truly determined people, because history shows that those who were determined in their mission at the cost of harming others achieved only negative results. So the question that comes to mind is: how can we become more determined? How do we build the determination to do things and get them done?

My immediate answer is to be clear about our purpose. It is much easier to commit to an objective with a clear purpose than without one, and the key is very simple. We often embark on missions without a clear answer to a very basic question: what do we want this or that for?

When we see a person or a team marked by that kind of determination and look closely, we notice their ability to connect a purpose with a result. Stitching the two together is no easy task, which is why we so often jump from ideas to execution and skip even minimal planning. In extreme cases, obviously, there is no time to plan. Yet even in a fire, the firefighter has seconds, if not fractions of a second, to go from what he observes to action, and he is building a plan in his head as he goes, or already knows from experience how to tackle that fire.

Determination carries us along a path of drive, persistence and deep passion for what we want. Like willpower, it is an inexhaustible source of energy for staying unshakable on the way to what we want to achieve. In my experience, determination comes from searching tirelessly for small things that bring a big benefit to those around me, especially my family. I won’t pretend I never get frustrated when I can’t find them. I know the objectives that inspire me most and give me the most determination are the ones that benefit others first and benefit me as a byproduct. Being surrounded by people who push us toward our objectives is, without a doubt, another key source of determination for achieving anything.

How is your determination?

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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