Perseverance helps you accomplish your goals, and it helps mental health and happiness.
Chances are, you’re facing increasing levels of stress, demands and pressure—and these may threaten your senses of happiness and wellbeing. But if you enhance your perseverance, you can pave the way toward greater mental health and satisfaction—for yourself and even those around you.
The world is increasingly intense, and people are anxious about the future. In fact, only 17% are happy about the direction of things today, according to Gallup. It’s logical that it feels challenging based on increases in volatility, ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty.
But cultivating your perseverance may be key to greater positive experiences, according to new research published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
The Power of Perseverance
Essentially, perseverance is dedication, determination and persistence in the face of difficulty.
- It relates to how you maintain your energy—including endurance and stamina.
- It also relates to how you perceive your own capabilities, and a belief that you can grow, improve and accomplish results.
- And it relates to your ability to reframe, seeing things in a hopeful light—believing things can get better, even if they’re not ideal today.
And the big news is that perseverance isn’t just helpful in contributing toward accomplishment or fulfillment, it actually reduces depression, anxiety, panic and mental disorders, according to a sweeping Journal of Abnormal Psychology study of more than 3,000 people over the course of 18 years.
Stretch and discomfort are required for growth.
How To Build Your Perseverance
There are four main ways to cultivate your perseverance.
1. Get Real About Stress
One of the challenges today is that people generally believe that a good life is stress-free. A myth of happiness is that if you’re doing things right, it will be all bonbons and butterflies, and that happiness should always increase (known as happiness inflation).
In reality though, life will always present challenges, and statistically, the harder you’ve worked at something, the more satisfied you’ll be when you achieve it.
In addition, some of the most fulfilling elements of life are the hardest. You have a great marriage, but it’s not without some tough disagreements. You love being a parent or an aunt or uncle, but raising children can also be hard. You’ve achieved success in your career, but you’ve overcome setbacks and difficulties.
You’re wise to acknowledge what’s not working in your life and all the ways you want to improve—and to validate the challenges you’re facing. And then, for the best mental health, you’re also smart to work toward learning and improving.
Embrace a growth mindset where you know your capabilities aren’t static—rather focus on growing and progressing with effort and intention.
2. Learn from Failure
Another aspect of perseverance is learning from failures along the way. Interestingly, doing so can help you accomplish results, but also reduce stress. A study published in Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience found when people examined their failures, it helped them in their future endeavors.
And when you fail 15% of the time, it may keep you motivated, according to a study published in Nature Communications. If you fail less than this much, you may find yourself less challenged and less engaged.
Seek out challenging situations, rather than pursuing things that are too easy. Use failure as a barometer: If you’re never failing, you may not be trying hard enough.
In addition, stretch yourself and your skills so you can get better. Improvement comes along with discomfort, so look for places you can raise issues, take initiative and push yourself to new accomplishments.
The harder you work, the more you'll appreciate your accomplishment.
3. Develop Tenacity
One aspect of perseverance is sticking with something even when it’s tough. In the study, people expressed their tenacity by committing to solving problems and ensuring they didn’t give up. Specifically, they said, “When I encounter problems, I don't give up until I solve them.”
- Build your tenacity by envisioning positive outcomes. People who are the most disciplined are able to deal with short term difficulty, because they are envisioning the positive ends they’ll accomplish. Remind yourself that your achievement will be worth your time in the trenches.
- You can develop tenacity by increasing your focus. Sometimes, it’s difficult to keep going because you’re distracted. Turn off notifications, pings and dings for a period of time while you’re working on something, and let yourself do deep work.
- Also develop tenacity by taking a break. After you’ve been focusing for a while, get away by walking your dog, taking a power nap or spending time with a child. Then get back to it. Often, breaking your flow can help you think in new ways and bring a fresh perspective to the problem.
- And engage others. Few complex problems can be solved by only one person anymore, so gather your people around you to provide perspective, ideas and even moral support.
Tenacity is hopeful—you know you’ll get through to a positive outcome. It also involves confidence—you know you can figure out a way. And tenacity also involves courage—because problems can be a little scary—but you continue not without trepidation but in spite of it.
4. Embrace Optimism
Another key feature of perseverance is optimism. You face down difficulty with positive re-appraisal. People in the study said, “I can find something positive, even in the worst situations.”
With optimism, you’re looking on the bright side, but more importantly, you’re putting things in context and reminding yourself of their meaning. Optimism can make things feel more manageable.
There is significant evidence that optimism has important effects on your life.
- When people were more optimistic, they had 11%-15% greater life spans, and they had lower incidences of disease. This was true regardless of diet, exercise, alcohol use, age or education, according to a longitudinal study of over 70,000 people by Boston University.
- When people were more optimistic at work, they performed better in their work and had a greater level of satisfaction, according to a study published in the Journal of Management.
- When people felt more optimism, they experienced less stress and less conflict between the demands of their work and their life, based on research published in the Journal of Business Research.
Develop your optimism by thinking long term. Often, problems seem bigger when your view is limited, so pull back and ask yourself how you’ll perceive the challenge months or years from now.
In addition, build your optimism by taking action. Complacent optimism is when you believe good things will happen, but you wait for them. Better yet is conditional optimism is when you empower yourself to work toward better conditions. You actively assess situations, seek learning opportunities, do hard work and figure out how to involve others to help you on your journey.
Stay the Course
One of the reasons perseverance is so powerful is because you’re validating your skills and capabilities by trusting yourself. Rolling up sleeves, following through and staying the course are all aspects of persevering. And ironically, expending effort contributes toward fulfillment. Just the process of taking action can be empowering and fulfilling.
The outcome also matters. You’re staring down the problem, facing your fears and muscling through—because you know you’re investing in the potential for happiness, wellbeing and fulfillment on the other side.
