Excessive Persistence, Your Superpower or Your Kryptonite?
Andrea Wright I Published on Date
Persistence is a valuable quality that can help you achieve your life's goals. Many of the world's most successful leaders attribute their success to their persistent behavior. However, too much persistence can be a double-edged sword and lead to negative outcomes. Taken to an extreme, it can leave you frustrated, increase stress and anxiety, and cause burnout.
Definition: Persistence is the ability to keep going even when faced with challenges, setbacks and obstacles.
If you're wondering if you've crossed the line from persistence to overbearing, there are some signs that can help you assess the situation.
Do you…
Work overtime on a project that has run its course, it's time to stop.
Work overtime to please your boss, even though you are exhausted and need a break.
Try to make someone do something they don't want to do.
Refuse to give up on an argument because you have to be right.
Constantly call or email and refuse to take "no" for an answer.
If you noticed any of the aforementioned signs, keep reading! We'll show you how to use self-awareness, creativity, and adaptability can turn extreme persistence into a superpower that propels you forward instead of holding you back.
SELF-AWARENESS is an important tool that can help us recognize when we are being too persistent and take steps to stop it. By understanding our motivations and triggers, we can better control our behavior and avoid becoming too attached to anything. With self-awareness, we can learn how to be persistent without becoming obsessive or compulsive.
For example,
Being self-aware can help us identify situations where we are trying to coerce someone into doing something they don't want to do. Understanding what the other person is feeling and why they feel that way can be challenging initially, but it is a key skill to cultivate. It can be helpful to talk to the relevant person if you think you might be pushing too hard but don't see it for yourself. Communicating and confirming with them can help confirm the accuracy of any suspicions. If you have difficulty recognizing your behavior in real-time, ask them to let you know when they feel you are pressuring them into something they don’t want to do, and then take the necessary steps to replace this behavior with a healthy one. With practice, you will eventually be able to identify when your persistence level is too high and take steps to modify it accordingly. Knowing how to recognize when you are being too persistent can help you avoid making someone feel uncomfortable or pressured into doing something.
CREATIVITY encourages us to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas that can help us change our habits and behaviors for the better. It helps us view things from a different perspective and identify new opportunities for growth. With creativity, we can come up with strategies to ensure that we stay on track and achieve our goals, no matter how difficult they may seem initially.
Back to the example,
Our example showed us that we were trying to make someone do something they didn’t want to do. Now that we are aware of this, we can use our creativity to come up with more constructive behavior than what we did before. In situations like this, it might be beneficial to take a collaborative approach when defining the final goal. Collaboration allows the whole team to give their input, ensuring everyone has a shared understanding of the desired outcome. Plus, no one will have to do something they don't want to.
Finally, ADAPTABILITY enables us to adjust our strategies and behaviors when necessary. It helps us remain open-minded enough to consider new ideas and approaches that may be more effective than our previous ones. With adaptability, we can learn from our mistakes and use them as an opportunity for growth.
Back to the example,
In our example above, we can use our adaptability to adjust to our new collaborative approach.
