Alex Shalman . comPractical Personal Development

This article is part of The Virtuous Human Series.

This is a guest post by Sid Savara.

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”  ~Thomas Foxwell Buxton

Perseverance - to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement

As has been written previously here in Failure plus Persistence equals Success, “[...]failure is one of the greatest keys to success.”  It’s a point I agree with -  by failing, we make progress towards our eventual success by receiving feedback on where we have gone wrong, and thus we have information to correct our course.

Imagine you are working on your golf swing for example.  Your skills aren’t where you want them to be, so you go to the driving range and hit a few balls.  You notice that you consistently hook the ball to the right - that’s fantastic news!  You now know where your failure lies, and how to correct it.  You can build on this information, and push forward, correcting your mistake.

Now consider how much harder it would be if you had no feedback at all, and had no idea what you were doing wrong.  While it is difficult to persevere in the face of failure, it is also difficult, and virtuous, to persevere when you don’t know whether failure or success is around the next corner

One of the best examples I can think of is writing a book, or starting a blog.  It’s a lonely road writing or blogging when you are not sure anybody is reading.  You wish for any feedback - you would even welcome someone coming and commenting on your site, telling you that everything you do is wrong.   At least you would know where you stand.  And yet, many writers and bloggers struggle in obscurity - always wondering whether they are any good.

How many unpublished novels do you think are out there, halfway finished, that never even make it off the author’s desks?  These writers never receive any feedback for their work, and never fail - because they never have the chance to.

Or consider those who aim to improve their health by hitting the gym. Every year, how many people start workout programs, but don’t follow through on them? Did they stop persevering because they failed?  I believe it is because many (though not all) stop persevering because they never continue long enough to see any results.  Unsure of whether it is doing any good, they literally throw in the towel.

Let’s bring it back full circle, and consider why it is important to persevere even when we have no feedback.

What is it to be virtuous?  “Morally excellent.”   And character? “Good repute.”  Perhaps it will come as no surprise to readers then why I believe it is important to carry on, and persevere in the face of, well, nothing - as I am sure many readers are familiar with the following quote:

“Character is what you do when you think nobody is watching“

True perseverance is not just pushing onward through failure - true perseverance also involves continuing ahead, when you have no indication whether you are succeeding or not.

Sid Savara writes about personal development and productivity at SidSavara.com.  If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy his recent article More Important than Money - Paying Myself First With My Time.

This post is part of The Virtuous Human Series. There will be many articles in this series — make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a thing! If you’re interested in submitting a guest article, click here.

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