Persistence...

When I googled the word "persistence" the dictionary definition that came up on my screen was - the fact of continuing in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. Whenever, we think of any word OR object we would always have a visual imagery that comes up automatically associated with the word. Needless to say, when I typed persistence the one visual that came to my mind was my pet retriever - Simba.

This ruffian is aware of the fact that he should stay away from the dining table, should not hunt for scraps OR not allowed to make sad faces anywhere around the place we eat. But he is always finding ways to come and make a guest appearance when asked to 'sit' away OR 'stay' OR his not so favorite command 'No'.

Also, along with persistence is a combination of steadiness to the final goal. It is to get one little morsel of food that is on my plate into his mouth. Each time I say no, the next step would be to ask my husband OR my cook OR just sit in front of me with the chin to the table and look at me with the constant glare of "How could you?" Just this act of Simba, makes me wonder - Imagine if we imbibed the same practice of persistence with a twist in our life - work OR personal and came back with different tactics at a particular problem. Not more than three times that we actually try hard.

A jobseeker looking for the next best opportunity, a professional trying to solve a complex business problem, a student wondering how to get the math right - wondering whats' common in all of them? Well the answer is simple, the eagerness to find the best OR the correct solution. However, what differentiates them is the intent and the strength with which they approach the problem. A student might leave that particular problem as an option to something else that's simple. A jobseeker has multiple options to choose from, but a professional solving a business problem has two solutions - one is to be at it, and solve it come what may OR circumvent it. The question that I am left with is, whether we actually try enough in any business scenario?

The reason why I wrote this was the article - Persistence and problem solving, and how the author had related it to better negotiation. If you are keen to evaluate your level of persistence, try the exercises on this slideshare link

Let me do a little word play to conclude my seed for thought, we always solve persistent problems, but we seldom show persistence to solve our problems, isn't it?