DOGGEDNESS: A TREATISE INTO THE WORLD OF PEOPLE WHO NEVER STOP PUSHING
‘Ever tried. Ever
failed. No matter. Try again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett (Nobel Prize
Laureate)
Psychologist Angela
Duckworth presented an interesting question in her book, ‘Grit’. She asked: ‘How
many of us start something new, full of excitement and good intentions, and
then give up- permanently- when we encounter the first real obstacle, the first
long plateau in progress?’
The answer? Far
too many of us.
The truth is
that once the fuel of motivation that propels people to work towards their
goals runs out or they begin to encounter difficulties and failures, most
typical people just stop pressing towards their goals and dreams. The atypical
ones are those that press on despite a distinct lack of external reward for the
efforts that they are putting in and despite struggles, challenges and
failures.
And I have
often asked myself why. Why do people give up on goals and dreams and targets?
Why do so many people begin projects that they never complete? And what is it
that marks out the people who persist in their goals and dreams despite
obstacles, difficulties and failures?
Well, I think I
have found a good answer to the last question. That distinct marker that
differentiates between the quitters and the persistent go-getters is a single
quality.
Doggedness.
UNDERSTANDING DOGGEDNESS
Doggedness:
(noun) marked by stubborn determination.
Synonyms:
perseverance, persistence, single-mindedness, tenacity, determination,
indefatigability, staying power
Essentially,
doggedness is marked by the ability to persist even in the face of
difficulties. It is being willing
to “give it a go” even when the outcome and the way to proceed are uncertain. It
is the acceptance that success does not come easy and not being frightened of
finding things difficult. It is having a high level of “stickability”, and
being able to readily recover from frustration. It is the ability to “hang in”
with your goals and dreams even though you may, for a while, feel somewhat
confused or even anxious. It is the ability to dust yourself and try again even
after falling.
Simply put,
doggedness is not quitting even when giving up seems to be the only reasonable
step others might take. It means not losing focus when failures nibble at your
determination and begin to sway the conviction of your vision. It is, tapping
from the words of George Bernard Shaw, the willingness and ability to be a
force of fortune instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and
grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you
happy.
WHY BE ONE OF
THE DOGGED?
Malcolm
Gladwell in his book, ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’, stated that success is
a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for
twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on
after thirty seconds.
There are
numerous people who exemplify the truth of Gladwell’s words. We have the famous
Abraham Lincoln, who seemed to be the epitome of political failure before
emerging the renowned president of the United States, Thomas Edison, who never
stopped looking for opportunities to learn from his recurrent failures before
becoming one of the lead inventors of his day. We have Lee Myung-bak, who was
born into a wretched family and eventually rose to be the president of South
Korea, Harrison Ford, who faced multiple rejections during his early acting
career but eventually, through perseverance and hard work, rose to be the star
that he is today. In Nigeria, we have Cosmas Maduka, who rose from selling
akara on the streets at the age of seven to becoming the CEO of Coscharis
Group, a multi-billion
dollar conglomerate, and Mike Adenuga, who used to work as a taxi driver to
help fund his university education and is currently the third richest person in
Africa.
Here’s the
thing; as a Chinese proverb states, a gem is not polished without rubbing, nor
a person perfected without trials. Most people are born with tremendous
potential. The real question is whether they employ diligence and doggedness to
their maximum. In the end, it is those who are dogged enough to resist the
trials and difficulties that come with pushing towards goals that will be the
winners in this journey of life.
Therefore, to
achieve success, you need to be fearless, tenacious, and determined never the
let the strong tide of failures, opposition and woes drown you. You need to face
the obstacles head-on and be determined to stand your ground even as the storms
threaten to knock you off the ground. You need to be dogged.
It helps to
understand that for great things, the rewards don’t typically rise early. There
are no overnight successes, in the true sense of the word. But here’s the thing
about those later rewards, those that emerge after facing storms and
difficulties and obstacles. Most of the time, they’re explosive. And very loud.
Hence, for
anyone who suddenly shoots to the top, we all need to understand that he or she
was propelled by a solid base of doggedness, resilience and tenacity.
DEVELOPING
DOGGEDNESS
11. PASSION
‘Whatever it is
that you want to do, you’ll find in life that if you’re not passionate about
what it is you’re working on, you won’t be able to stick with it.’- Jeff Bezos.
The passion
that is required for doggedness does not merely equate to intense feelings or
emotions, but rather, deals with the inner drive that births consistency over
an extended period of time. This type of passion does not deal with mere
interests that come as quickly as they fade away but rather, what a person
wants to achieve in life, the legacy a person wants to leave behind. It deals
with a person’s purpose in life. It deals with an ultimate goal that a person
is ready to loyally care about and put effort into.
The logic of
the necessity for enduring passion is quite straightforward. If you do not
know, in a very deep way, what you want in life and why you are pushing towards
your goals, it becomes very easy to throw in the towel at the slightest wind of
resistance or difficulty. It becomes easy to create those exquisite excuses we
often use to delude ourselves from the truth of the fact that we just do not
have the sustaining passion and drive to build up the diligence that keeps
people pressing. It becomes easy to give up with few to zero regrets.
Resilience
requires fierce resolve, fortitude. And same cannot be cultivated without
having the right levels of passion to keep a person pushing.
22. A MINDSET SHIFT
In developing
doggedness, changing the way you think about failure is a fundamental
requirement. We give failure more credit than it deserves, interpreting it as
implying things that are much deeper than what it actually implies. Hence, most
times, we give up at the first instance of failure or difficulty because we
have come to ascribe failure as implying a lack of ability, lack of talent, or
just plain unbreakable incompetence. But quite frankly, it is folly to give up
and consider future attempts as a lost cause simply because your first couple
of attempts weren’t successful, thereby allowing those failures to stop you
from reaching your goals. Your projects and goals should not be considered
impossible simply because they did not work out the first time. To put it quite
simply, no one is perfect and everyone is bound to experience failures and
difficulties whilst attempting to push towards dreams and goals.
Changing your
opinion about failure and obstacles can be the one milestone to cross towards
becoming dogged. The first step towards changing ingrained views regarding
failure is to replace your irrational opinions about failure with the understanding
that, as Robert Kiyosaki said, failure is part of the process of success and
therefore, to avoid failure is also to avoid success. The truth remains that failures
are going to happen on the journey to success and how one deals with them are
the most important determinant of success.
The next step
is to understand that failures are simply a sign of taking on challenges and
that everyone has the ability to overcome failures. Then the last step is
realising that there is a surplus of historical evidence that presses to the
point that bouncing back after failure will only make an individual stronger
and wiser.
And understanding
these three truths will not only transform your mind, but will give you the
fortitude and mental strength to persevere despite failure. Remember that the
worst thing you can do to yourself is to let temporary setbacks become
permanent excuses.
33. DILIGENCE
‘…once you have
done the work to create a clear vision, it is the discipline and effort to
maintain that vision that can make it all come true. The two go hand in hand.
The moment you’ve created that vision, you’re on your way, but it is the
diligence with which you stick to that vision that allows you to get there’ –
Pete Carroll in his book, ‘Win Forever’
Here’s an
unfailing truth: diligence is more important than natural talent. In fact, in
several studies done to determine which, between diligence and natural talent,
leads to success, diligence has always taken the lead. Always.
It comes, then,
as common wisdom that a person simply cannot be dogged if the person is not
disciplined and diligent. Diligence comes, in fact, as a condition precedent to
developing doggedness. It is diligence that pushes a person to spend long hours
learning, growing, engaging in deliberate practice, and putting in work
irrespective of failures, obstacles and difficulties. Doggedness requires the
ability to put one’s head down and go as hard as one can. It requires the
ability to press on in the midst of impossibilities. And it is only diligence
that grants a person the ability to do all that is required to be truly dogged.
All in all,
doggedness is making the commitment to aggressively pursue goals that you
believe in and value with discipline, tenacity and hard work. It is being ready
to face all the risks that come one’s way in the journey to success. It is hard
work, it is persistence, it is fierce determination. And it is impossible to
succeed in life without cultivating doggedness.