The latest research results of positive psychology show that there are seven secret weapons that determine a person's future success, namely perseverance, enthusiasm, self-control, optimism, gratitude, social intelligence and curiosity. Among them, perseverance is considered to be the first of the "seven secret weapons".
In recent years, the concept of gravel has gradually swept across American education. It was written by Chinese American psychologist Angela Duckworth (Angela? Duckworth), Angela began to devote herself to the study of perseverance in 2007, and thus won the MacArthur Scholar Award in 20 13. This award is regarded as one of the highest interdisciplinary awards in the United States, and is awarded to those who continue to work creatively in various fields and show extraordinary ability and future.
Gravel, which means gravel in old English, is hard and wear-resistant particles in sand. Angela defines it as "the quality of persistent enthusiasm for a long-term goal and unremitting efforts even after failure". The connotation of perseverance is not only perseverance, diligence and persistence, but also persistent passion and endurance for long-term goals. It is a quality that includes self-motivation, self-restraint and self-adjustment.
Angela used to be a math teacher in a public school. She found that there seemed to be no direct relationship between IQ and test scores, which puzzled her. In order to find out this problem, she returned to the university to study for a master's degree in psychology. During this period, she went deep into the West Point Military Academy and did in-depth research.
As we know, the admission procedure of West Point Military Academy is very strict, and those who can be admitted are the best of their peers. Even so, 1 of every five students in West Point Military Academy will drop out of school early, and many of them will drop out of school during the first summer beast training camp. During this period, students need to meet various challenges, including mental, physical and social aspects. Who can survive the training of the animal camp?
Angela and others first compared the differences in academic performance, leadership potential and physical fitness test scores between the students who quit and those who stayed, and the results showed that there was no significant difference. Then compare the scores of the two groups on the Perseverance Scale, and find that the students who stayed behind scored significantly higher on the Perseverance Scale than those who quit. Angela and others continued to do the same research in the second year, and as a result, the perseverance index accurately predicted this result again.
In addition, Angela and others also conducted in-depth research in other groups, including students, military personnel, business managers, salespeople, and even tracked word spelling competitions. Finally, they came to a similar conclusion: EQ, appearance, physique and even IQ can't determine whether a person is successful or not. There is only one key to success-courage.
In fact, Angela herself is a model of perseverance and success! As mentioned above, as a high school teacher, she applied for a master's degree in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, but the time for submitting the materials was outrageous. However, because of her wonderful resume, the Admissions Office decided to make an exception in the interview, and she was admitted by virtue of her wonderful performance in the interview. After entering the school, because of his weak psychological foundation, he was different in the academic circle, and even evaluated as a "hopeless guy" by other tutors. Only 12 months later, Angela, with her super learning ability, strong personality and rich experience, "changed from an incorrigible person to a Ferrari", reaching the preface of international academic circles. The evaluation given to her by others is that she usually doesn't spend time on social activities, and she is not keen on appearing in various meetings or occupying seats in institutions. She can endure loneliness and concentrate on her own research until it becomes a blockbuster. ...
The following is Angela's talk on perseverance at TED, with 1600W hits so far.
Studies by Angela and others show that people with high perseverance have better performance in studies, employment, marriage stability, sports and healthy behaviors. In addition, they also have the same mental health, positive emotions and life satisfaction.
A group of students from Ivy League University and West Point Military Academy found that there was a slight negative correlation between perseverance and SAT as a general intelligence factor, but it was not significant. This shows that those students who are smarter may be less determined than those who are not as smart as they are, and they can all go to the top universities in the United States, perhaps because those students who are not as smart as their peers will make up for the lack of general intelligence through greater determination and more efforts. This proves the important role of acquired efforts.
A determined person regards the process of achievement as a marathon. In order to achieve my goal, I can work hard for a long time, not easily tired, and show lasting endurance. Can be based on the present, actively use various resources to solve problems, and get positive feedback from daily learning activities. On the contrary, people with low perseverance are easily defeated by difficulties in life, and are always driven by things that can rekindle their enthusiasm and deviate from the original track.
Carol Dweck, another famous American psychologist, believes that there are two types of human thinking: growth mindset and fixed mindset. People with growth thinking think that challenges and difficulties are interesting and help us grow. When faced with challenges, they will be confident that they will be able to overcome difficulties, so they will become braver and eventually succeed. People with a fixed mind usually think that their intelligence and ability are unchangeable, they will be helpless in the face of difficulties, think that they are not capable or lucky enough, and finally embark on the road of mediocrity.
People with high perseverance have more growth thinking, while people with low perseverance have more fixed thinking.
Don't worry if you find your perseverance level is low. Studies by Angela and others show that perseverance can be improved through hard work the day after tomorrow. Here are some perseverance they provide to make themselves more determined.
Persevering people are driven by strong inner passion. If you know exactly what can ignite your inner passion, pursue it. If not, look for it. Passion does not suddenly appear like an epiphany. You need to take the initiative to discover, try, experience life and get in touch with different things. In this process, you may gradually find your own interests. The early interest is fragile and vague, which needs years of strong cultivation and tempering. The initial fragile and vague interest will deepen with perseverance and eventually become passion, because perseverance is half perseverance and half interest.
Man is an animal that pursues meaning. When a person knows what he is living for, he can endure any kind of life. When we find the meaning of work and life, many difficulties are not difficulties. At this time, the inner passion is easy to be aroused. Persistence is no longer a painful thing for you.
Setbacks don't directly make you strong, what really matters is how you look at them. How do determined people view setbacks? They will almost give an overwhelmingly optimistic explanation for setbacks. This is actually the growth of a way of thinking. There is an old saying in Japan: fall seven times and get up the eighth time. All excellent people have always been like this, but when you get up the eighth time, don't forget to think about why you fell down the first seven times.
British philosopher Francis Bacon said that collective habits are more powerful than individual habits. If you want to be a more determined person, please join a team or enterprise with a firm culture. Today, with the development of the Internet and the emergence of various communities, it is not difficult to find such a team and join them.