For centuries, people have chanted that the most persistent
person wins the prize. In this
article, I am going to challenge that belief. I assert that it is not persistence that makes the
difference. It is the stripping
away of beliefs that allows an individual to keep going. While I understand that people in the
stands watching a sporting event have opinions about successful athletes. On the field, there is something
happening that the fans
cannot see.
The same applies when people view what they call persistence.
To start, the human brain stores everything it hears, smells
and sees in neuropaths. Those
neuropaths possess your attitudes and belief systems. When you were born, you were told you could be anything you
wanted. However, when you said you
wanted to be CEO of a Fortune 500, you may have been told about being
realistic. If you were black or
Hispanic, you may have been warned that being CEO of a Fortune 500 is so rare
for blacks and Hispanics that it’s best to focus on being a doctor or
lawyer. Many women may have been
told the same. In addition, you
were told that women and minorities have to work twice as hard as white males,
especially if those males came from affluent families.
This kind of conversation creates cognitive dissonance. That refers to a situation involving
conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an
alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the
discomfort and restore balance. In other words, being told you can be anything
you want, but CEO is unrealistic, creates internal conflict and tension. One path is to stay in the conflict and
pursue your dreams. The other is
to avoid the conflict and take your parents’ advice.
While the cognitive dissonance may have initially started
with your parent(s), you inherit the same conflicting thoughts your parents
have. Since you trust your
parents, you trust they know what they are talking about, even if you believe
you can be the exception.
(Depending on socioeconomic class, being a doctor or lawyer may appear
to be unrealistic. Therefore, the
child is told to focus on getting a lower paying job with benefits, for
example. By the way, many children
are discouraged when they want to be professional athletes.)
To go against your parents is to simultaneously go against
conversations stored in your neuropaths.
As you can see, this creates a quandary for the individual. As a result,
a woman or minority could sabotage a great career because they spent time
looking for evidence to prove they can’t be CEO of a Fortune 500. They would seek evidence they have to
work twice as hard. Even those two
beliefs work against one another.
Why?
While the job of CEO is extremely demanding, he or she must
be able to delegate. If a woman or
minority believes working twice as hard is what got them to the position of
CEO, they may believe that is what they have to do to remain in that
position. Eventually that person will
become overwhelmed because they did not delegate effectively. An overwhelmed CEO could result in a
poor performing company and eventually lose their job. There is a saying that the best CEOs
work on their companies, not in them.
Furthermore, you may be so exhausted from working twice as
hard that you may become disheartened to pursue a higher level of
management. So working twice as
hard can be a double-edged sword.
What does this have to do with persistence? If a woman or minority was told that
being a CEO was unrealistic, they will have mental barriers that stop them from
pursuing CEO. While those
conversations may be stored in your brain, upon introspection, you will see
those thoughts and beliefs are not your own. They are the beliefs of your parents, teachers, media,
etc. Therefore, you are not
obligated to adhere to them. As
you strip away the inherited beliefs of others, you can make a clear path for
new thoughts and beliefs. This
time they will be the thoughts you choose for your life.
On the other hand, if you never inherited conflicting
beliefs, you would have a clear mindset.
That mindset would allow you to move through each phase of success in
your life with power and alacrity.
To the observer, you would look persistent. Contrary to the observer, you would have the advantages of
seeing no barriers. The same
possibility occurs for the person who strips away inherited barriers. With built in barriers, you spend time
being in conflict with them or stripping them away. If you don’t know how to strip them away, you are
stuck. Without the barriers, you
have freedom and open fields to do what ever you want.
What do you
think? I would love to hear your feedback. And I’m open to ideas. Or if you
want to write me about a specific topic, let me know.
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