As children, we are taught not to quit, because sustained effort is required for success. Perseverance is a character strength that helps us thrive, according to positive psychology. It is “the commitment to overcome obstacles and pursue long-term goals, essential for achieving success.” (Anna Katherine Schaffner, PhD). Albert Einstein said, “You never fail until you stop trying.” Thomas Edison made thousands of attempts before inventing the light bulb. Pop culture might define perseverance as a “superpower” that generates success. Perseverance is related to resilience–the “ability to recover from difficulties, to pick ourselves up after we have encountered adversity.” (Anna Katherine Schaffner, PhD). Resilient people avoid self-blame, blaming others, or feeling sorry for themselves. Instead, they learn from failures and try another approach. Psychologist Carol S. Dweck calls this a “growth mindset” versus a “fixed mindset.” But perseverance has limits. According to cognitive psychologist Dr. Annie Duke, author of “Quit,” our culture has a dangerous obsession with persistence, and a stigma around quitting. Wisdom is needed to identify when perseverance turns counterproductive. Strategic quitting may be better to preserve time, money, and energy for better opportunities.
Perseverance also needs to be balanced with flexibility. We have heard that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (Rita Mae Brown). As obstacles arise, we need creativity to attain our goals. Flexibility and creativity are closely related, and, also, “superpowers” tied to success. Creativity is a positive psychology character strength. We often equate creativity with artistic endeavors. But creativity applies to all aspects of life. Positive psychology defines it as “the capacity to generate original, imaginative, and novel ideas or behaviors that are also useful, effective, and constructive for society or personal well-being.” This includes adaptive thinking about day-to-day problems. To foster creativity, approach situations with an open-mind and without anxiety. Effective brainstorming occurs in positive environments.
The School of Positive Transformation notes that creativity is about “seeing the world differently, solving problems in unique ways, connecting ideas that others may overlook, and using imagination to make life richer, wiser, and more meaningful.” Creativity is “a mental strength that fuels innovation, adaptability, and personal growth, all of which are essential in cultivating true wisdom.” A flexible mindset is part of creativity. “Wise individuals are not bound by rigid beliefs; they are open to new experiences.” Creativity includes emotional intelligence, “using feelings to guide creative problem-solving.” Suggestions to increase creativity are: (1) Ask “What if?” regularly. (2) Create space for quiet reflection. (3) Brainstorming exercises, with no wrong answers. (4) Being involved with inspirational people, experiences, books, or art that challenge your perspective, and (5) Turn problems into opportunities.
Dr. Paul Wong wrote The Positive Psychology of Persistence and Flexibility. He emphasizes that flexibility always needs to be wedded to persistence to provide structure. But flexibility provides adaptive balance to “persistence, preventing stubborn fixation on unattainable goals.” Wong said flexibility “allows individuals to adjust their strategies, reallocate inner and outer resources, and embrace acceptance, when a situation cannot be forcefully changed.” And lastly, “flexibility enables a person to reconstruct meaning when old frameworks collapse under trauma or unexpected stress.” Wong uses water and bamboo as core metaphors for psychological flexibility. “Bamboo is hollow yet bends fiercely in storms without breaking.” Water is a great metaphor for flexibility because it fits “into any situation. It can go over, under, and around any blockage.”
Flexibility and creativity also contribute to resilience. Dr. F. Flach researched how people cope with major catastrophes, hardships, and potentially dangerous life transitions. He found three traits of resilient people: “(a) creativity, (b) the ability to tolerate emotional or physical pain, and (c) the ability to discover new ways to approach life.” He explains, “protecting children from experiencing failure or difficulty also deprives them of the opportunity to learn persistence and resourcefulness.” Children need “to learn how to stretch themselves to overcome obstacles and tolerate unpleasant tasks in order to achieve positive outcomes.” Flach said resilient people “develop new perspectives on interpreting the negative events and giving them meaning.”
In closing, here are lyrics from “Roll With It,” by Steve Winwood. This song helped me be flexible while persevering through a crisis. Winwood encourages us: “When life is too much, roll with it, baby. Don’t stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby. Hard times knocking on your door, I’ll tell them you ain’t there no more, get on through it, roll with it, baby.”
