Persistence: an ally in helping achieve our goals
In the English language, we are spoilt by the number of words that have arrived at our disposal. With so many root languages to draw from, there are 200,000 words in the Oxford English dictionary, compared to 88,000 words in the equivalent Spanish dictionary, and 100,000 words in Chinese.
When considering the central theme of today’s coaching – persistence – we observed how many synonyms of ‘persistence’ there are in the English language: perseverance; tenacity; determination; resolve; endurance; grit; stamina; indefatigability (love that one).
Whether referring to persistence, stamina, or indefatigability, one factor is certain – it is a powerful ally in helping us to achieve (dare we say, smash) our goals.
The 2024 Tour de France (TdF) gifts us two very recent examples of this. Tadej Pogacar, a rider for Team UAE Emirates, pulled on the yellow jersey after stage 4 of this year’s Tour and has held it for 12 days since then, with seemingly nobody able to challenge him. After losing to Vingegaard for the past two years, he has done the work, persevered, and is now seeing the results of his efforts.
Britain’s very own Mark Cavendish has also demonstrated extraordinary persistence, self-belief and discipline at the TdF this year, racing to his 35th Stage victory and claiming the most Stage wins of any rider in history. He achieved his first Stage win in 2008 and his 35th Stage win 16 years later in 2024 – persistence personified!
A less recent example of persistence is Diane Nyad, who set herself the goal of swimming from Cuba to Florida, a distance of 110 miles, through difficult-to-read currents and shark infested waters. She first attempted the swim in 1978 when she was 28 years old, but was pulled from the water in 8m swells having been swimming for 42 hours. In a story of true grit and determination, she made the decision to try again in 2011, when she was 61 years old. After two attempts in 2011, and another in 2012, she was finally successful in 2013, arriving on a beach in Florida 53 hours after she left Cuba. There’s a great documentary on Netflix called ‘Nyad’, if you’d like to see more, it’s incredible.
A final example comes from The America’s Cup, a prestigious international sailing competition that pits teams against each other around a short, and very fast course. Each country’s boat entry races to see who will win the best of all 17 races. Our Cool Conversations guest this week is Ben Ainslie, the team principal and skipper of INEOS Britannia, the British challenger for the 37th America’s Cup this summer in Barcelona. Ben, a multiple Olympic gold medal winner, first raced in the America’s Cup in 2013 for ORACLE TEAM USA. The team came back from being 8-1 down to narrowly win the race. It’s a thrilling story, click here to listen in full.
There are many learnings from these examples of human endeavour, but the common thread throughout is PERSISTENCE. Persistence helps us to learn from and overcome failure, build resilience, enhance our skills, maintain motivation, and create opportunities. When we embrace persistence, we equip ourselves with the strength and determination needed to continue to drive to achieve our goals and unlock our fullest potential.
Next time you face a daunting challenge, remember that persistence is your greatest ally. Come and talk to us about how we can support you to maintain drive, focus and performance, you’re In Cool Company.
