The Ingredient Behind Everything You Want to Achieve – ElPropósito2 min de lectura

Beyond talent, what lets you succeed at everything you want in life?

Photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash

I’ve seen, and lived, how people tend to prize someone’s talent for an activity over their attitude toward the challenge. Yet every time I’ve been in that spot, my drive to finish the job and, above all, my perseverance have been how I won.

In "The 21st-Century Human Still Living in the Jungle," I wrote that perseverance is one of the keys to getting past obstacles. That persistence, often more than raw intelligence, can lead us down paths we’ve never seen and surprise us with the possibilities, combinations and results within our reach.

So where does perseverance come from, and how is it born? Much of the answer lies in a flame that has to be lit inside us. It’s the light that lets us sail rough seas at night, through a storm, with a clear heading and, above all, with confidence. That flame is made of a few things:

• Passion: the inner ingredient, love, that we need to carry with us and keep in mind at all times, beyond any skill we have. As Daniel Goleman puts it in The Creative Spirit, it’s "the drive to do something for the sheer pleasure of doing it, more than for any prize or reward."
• Meaning: the compass that lights up when we can answer questions like these: Why am I doing this? How does it make me a better person and serve the people around me? What does this task mean in my life?
• Courage: even in the stormiest moments, when fear shows up, it should simply tell us we’re on the right path and remind us that we have a heading and a passion driving us.

The reward for persevering is reaching our destination. By nature, and today more than ever, we face challenges. The real challenge is finding the meaning in what we do, trusting that we can do it and discovering the strategy that keeps us going until we reach what we want.

Have a great week, all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. A few articles and books I recommend:

• Organizational Grit
• The Habit of Ferocity

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Alva Edison

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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