What I learned from my daughter about “Persistence”
Tanmay Vora
I was glad to read Becky Robinson’s post “The Hill” – which is very interestingly written around the topic of persistence. Becky Robinson hosts “LeaderTalk” blog representing School of Leadership and Professional Development at Mountain State University, Virginia. Check out Leadertalk for some great insights on leadership.
If we look around, we can find number of examples of people who went through difficult situations in life and persevered to eventually gain success. In India, we have examples like Mahatma Gandhi who envisioned an Independent India. I am sure he would have faced tough situations in those years where he would have easily given up. But he chose to persevere and endeavor consistently towards that vision for years together. I can imagine the feeling he would have experienced when the Indian flag was hoisted first time as a mark of India’s Independence. (Read my earlier post on ‘Leadership Lessons from Gandhi’)
Persistence is a very important leadership trait. When we manage teams or projects, we are bound to face difficult situations. Client going ballistic over trivial issues, conflicts on scope, managing difficult team members, technical challenges, meeting difficult deadlines and other similar situations. It is easy to get frustrated and think of giving up. But if you do so, you are setting a wrong example as a leader. When we meet our goals, the feeling of satisfaction and achievement is much greater than sum of all frustrating situations they would have gone through.
I have personally learned a great deal about persistence from my daughter when she was learning to walk. She would try to walk a couple of steps and fall. She would get up again, try taking a few steps and fall again. Each time she fell, she stood up and tried. She persisted, pushed through until she was confident enough of taking a few more steps and reach something she can hold for standing.
She taught me that falling down is okay till you have persistence to get back up. It is when you give up that “falling down” becomes “failing down”. If we observe kids, they can teach us a lot about our inherent capabilities as human beings. We have much more capacity than we think we have.
Wish you a great weekend!
In the photo: My daughter “Hiya” (meaning “Heart” in Hindi) at 7 months, in a thoughtful mood. She is now 3 yrs old.
Again nice one Tanmay.
Hiya persisted because she was free… Free from an illusion called “Reasoning”
We all were like Hiya in the early stages of our lives where we were kid… free from the illusions… but then we grew up, we started creating stories and reasons – which were not facts but just views which we made of the facts. Eventually, that thinking became a habit and we started living with them. And today in our lives, such stories and reasons are an integral part of what we consider “Reality”
Given that the stories and reasons we create are just our views of the actual facts, it can be altered and we all have power to leave reasons behind us and focus on the Goal until it is achieved.
So, I’d say: “Being unreasonable once you’re clear about your goal” is a key learning here.
.-= Utpal Vaishnav´s last blog ..Make This Sunday Your Ideal Sunday In About 4 Minutes =-.
Again a good one for all of us…
True, if we prepare ourselves to learn from our children, we will able to gain many jewels from them – Honesty, transparency, anxiousness, fearlessness, courage to speak truth, approach to take things positively & the one you have explained here with Hiya’s example…
Best wishes to your sweet little angel 🙂
Avani – Thanks again for your comment. Most important thing is to first accept that kids have some great lessons to offer us and be observant. Once we do that, they can teach us a whole new meaning of life!