How passion and perseverance will fuel your career
Read Time: 3 mins
Are you interested in fuelling your career through high-performance coaching and discovering how passion and perseverance can drive long-term success? If so, consider completing this self-directed learning activity.
Your Motivation at Work: A Lifelong Conundrum
Sometimes, it seems impossible to consider what will sustain your work-related motivation for a lifetime. After all, deadlines, escalating expectations, demanding bosses, and ever-changing KPIs don’t exactly give you time to breathe, let alone time to deliberate.
However, perhaps over the Christmas break — where you might find yourself lounging on a sandy beach or with time on your hands at home — may provide the ideal opportunity for reflection and growth. So, inspired by takeaways from Angela Duckworth’s interview on The Psychology Podcast, I encourage you to delve into the following self-reflective exercise; better yet, collaborate with a friend for deeper insights. Feel free to share your findings or ask questions in the comments.
Unpacking Angela Duckworth’s Insights
Angela Duckworth is a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder of The Character Lab.
Before fully embracing psychology, she explored several areas, such as management consulting, neuroscience, and educational initiatives. Over time, she has developed an invaluable understanding of grit (passion and perseverance) by interacting with high achievers from a multitude of domains.
Grit: The Intersection of Passion and Persistence
Unlike self-control, which revolves around a diverse range of choices and conflicts, grit is expressly linked to passion and perseverance for long-term objectives. In essence, gritty individuals sustain self-control in the service of ‘superordinate goals’ — the highest aspirations in their personal goal hierarchy.
The Power of Passion in Grit
According to Duckworth, the concept of grit extends beyond mere perseverance; it firmly entrenches itself in the realm of enduring interests. In other words, successful individuals with grit, supported by high-performance coaching, remain passionate and focused on their long-term primary goals.
Talent and Effort: A Symbiotic Relationship
While innate talent and effort both play crucial roles in skill acquisition and success, what’s particularly intriguing is the relationship that exists between them. Duckworth suggests that your ultimate achievement is the offspring of talent and diligent effort, emphasising effort, in particular, is doubly significant, i.e. Achievement = Talent x Effort2
Feedback and Learning: Evolving Understanding Through Feedback
Lastly, Duckworth recognises the vital role of feedback within scientific pursuits. She notes that being open to learning and evolving one’s understanding is essential.
Holiday Self-reflection Activity
Reflect on your own professional life. Ask yourself, is there an overarching theme or interest at the top of your goal hierarchy? What is your superordinate goal, and what might sit underneath it? An example inspired by my own career is below.
My superordinate work goal: Helping people thrive at work using insights from psychological science.
Find something that greatly interests you and pursue it!
Achievement is never a byproduct of talent alone, nor is it about relentless hard work in isolation. The real secret lies within the power of passion and the pursuit of far-reaching goals. To fuel your career and achieve high-performance, cultivate your passion, focus on long-term ambitions, and remember that every step in your journey counts.
To watch the full episode about Grit, check out The Psychology Podcast. To explore the power of career coaching and the difference it can make to your career, contact me at Skill and Will.
