THE IMPLEMENT MINDSET

‘TO STAY COMMITTED DESPITE CHALLENGES AND BE DEDICATED TO ACHIEVING RESULTS’

Imagine you are in a small boat with a group of people. The sun is shining and the water is calm. Laughter fills the air as you paddle down the river. Suddenly, the boat starts to rock and then spins around. You hit the rapids and the laughter stops. Soaked from the spray, and with a sense of exhilaration, you manage to steer the boat through the rapids, unaware that you have drifted off course and are heading straight to the edge of a waterfall. ‘This one is going to be tough.’ So I said to a group of people at TEDxSingapore in August 2010. My talk was called ‘White Water Leadership’, likening our ability to innovate to the skills of white water rafting. While some rapids are easy to navigate, others are not.

Yet, we pick up the paddle and try again. There are days when we feel really low. There are days when we want to give up. But, who we are in the face of disappointment often can determine whether we succeed or fail. It can be lonely and, most likely, you will be misunderstood – until you are a success, that is, and then you will be praised. Being on the edge of something new – whether working inside an organisation, trying to influence your peers or working as an entrepreneur – most people will see you as a maverick, not quite fitting in with what they see as important or necessary.

Resilience and agility are the current buzz words of our time. But how do you teach such qualities? The only way is to have experiences. You cannot learn this from a textbook or a course. You have to go through the highs and lows of a life fully lived. You have to face disappointment, feel it in your bones and come out on the other side feeling stronger. You have to have faith in your vision and self-belief. You have to have confidence, oodles of it and, if one door shuts, you open another one. You do not give up.

Our ability to stay committed is largely determined by the amount of grit that we have. What is grit? It is the ability to pick oneself up in the face of great disappointment or failure and have another go. Or, as psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth says: ‘Grit is sticking with your future – day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years – and working really hard to make that future a reality.’

Research is starting to show us that this notion of grit – passion and perseverance for long-term goals – is one of the highest determinants of both academic and professional success. The Duckworth Lab. at the University of Pennsylvania, has established the predictive power of grit. In longitudinal studies, it can predict who will survive arduous military training, be high academic achievers, and so on. Grit is far more powerful than IQ, levels of fitness, family income and even talent itself. Grit is ultimately about personality and character. It is that internal motor that just keeps on going.

So how can we get grittier? We may think that our characters and personalities hardly change. But research says, just like our brains, our personalities are not immutable and can adapt to new stimulus and experience.

Having intelligence or talent is just the starting point. What we need is a growth mindset. This mindset can only be developed through practice and applying one’s thinking in a consistent way, despite the challenges or obstacles one may face. If we have a love of learning, and stay committed, we will build the muscle of resilience. This enables us to achieve results, to be accomplished. A growth mindset is a belief that the way that we think and the wiring of our neurones are not fixed. We can adapt to change, learn, and relearn and stay the course when things get tough. If we believe that failure, or to fail, is not a permanent condition we will discover that frustration and confusion are part of the learning process, rather than a sign that we should give up. We can stand up and try again, and again, and again.

Those most likely to persevere are those that believe failure is not a permanent condition. Instead, they accept frustration and confusion as part of the learning process, rather than a sign that they should give up. Both strategies increase the ability to have more commitment.

This brings us again to the importance of our early years. Like creativity, a growth and gritty mindset can be cultivated when children are young, when character is moulded. A British newspaper carried an interesting article on a school in Bedford, United Kingdom, that is actively pioneering the development of grit in its pupils. In addition to their academic achievements, students are graded on their character and behaviour.

There is a delicate balance, though, and one that is difficult to learn. Having a committed mindset does not always mean that you keep on going against the odds, doing what you have always done, even if it is not getting you the results you want. A committed mindset means that you will keep seeking new pathways to achieve your goals, even if the pathway you have to choose might take you in a different direction from what you originally intended. It is only with hindsight that we have the luxury to be able to look back on our decisions and make sense of them.

We also need to learn to recover, to get out of the boat and away from the rapids, and to pace ourselves. This is not about being a workaholic or slave driver. It is not about how many hours we push ourselves to achieve something. A burnt-out pioneer is no good to anyone, let alone oneself.

Even the most painful decisions or experiences we may make or have – losing a job, closing a company, making people redundant, letting go of a dream – can but serve to shape and mould the character and mindset of commitment.