Why Some People Persevere and Others Don’t
Perseverance is a characteristic that defines one’s ability to keep trying in the face of adversity. This adversity is typically associated with some amount of pain.
With that said, there are two reasons why some people persevere and others don’t.
1) Some People Have a Higher Tolerance for Pain
If you have a higher tolerance for pain, you are capable of persevering longer than others. Fortunately, high tolerance for pain is not 100% innate. Yes, research has shown that some people do naturally take pain more than others. However, research also shows that you can learn how to tolerate more pain using positive training pain techniques.
Positive training pain is training to intentionally create nonthreatening pain. The goal is to push beyond fatigue while keeping the pain threshold under your control.
Typically athletes, especially elite athletes, get an immense amount of experience with positive training pain. Therefore, if you weren’t born with a high pain tolerance, and you aren’t an athlete, you will be at a disadvantage when it comes to perseverance. The only way around this is to find another way to incorporate positive training pain techniques in your life. For example, hiring a personal coach or trainer, going through some type of boot camp or joining the military.
2) Some People Have a Stronger Belief System
Whether it’s a strong belief in a higher power or a strong belief in yourself, having belief is critical for perseverance. The reality is that those who have difficulty persevering through adversity have a weak belief system. This is either because:
- They haven’t needed a belief system because they haven’t faced adversity before in their life.
- They have been conditioned to quit or give up when facing adversity because they have faced multiple failures without help using a belief system to push through it and succeed.
On the flip side, when you have a strong belief system it’s like having an invisible superpower. That superpower is often called faith. Faith that things will get better, that success is around the corner, and that your mind is more powerful than your body.
Those who tap into these beliefs can go further and last longer than those who don’t.