Successful people have strong perseverance. Even when new ideas don’t work out at first, they keep trying until they succeed. On the other hand, stubborn people are more likely to fail. This is because they don’t listen to others. So, how do perseverance and stubbornness differ?
Difference Between Perseverance and Stubbornness
People with perseverance listen to feedback and focus intensely like a predator. On the contrary, stubborn people react doctrinally even when given feedback. A perseverant person is like a ship that can’t stop its engine, while a stubborn person is like a ship that can’t turn its rudder. The difference between the two becomes clearer as problems become more complex.
Key Elements of Perseverance
People with perseverance need five qualities: energy, imagination, resilience, good judgment, and goal focus. These elements are entirely different from stubbornness and help solve complex problems through perseverance.
Energy and Imagination
Perseverant people don’t just resist; they persistently try. Imagination is also needed to keep coming up with things to try. Energy and imagination are a great combination, creating a synergy effect.
Resilience and Good Judgment
Resilience means the ability to withstand adversity. As problems grow, adversity becomes inevitable, and without resilience, you can only handle small tasks. However, resilience is different from stubbornness. Resilience prevents adversity from breaking your spirit but doesn’t prevent you from changing your mind. Perseverance often requires changing your mind, which requires good judgment.
Goal Focus
Perseverant people are quite rational and focus on expected value. This isn’t recklessness; it drives them to pursue even low-probability tasks. However, at the top of the decision tree, they can be irrational, often choosing based on personal preference among tasks with similar expected values.
Problems with Stubbornness
Stubbornness can be effective in simple problems but is likely to fail in complex ones. Stubbornness is an instinctive resistance to changing one’s mind. While not synonymous with foolishness, it is closely related. The instinctive resistance to changing one’s mind becomes a form of induced foolishness as contradictory evidence accumulates.
Conclusion
Perseverance and stubbornness are never the same. Perseverance combines five qualities: energy, imagination, resilience, good judgment, and goal focus. This helps solve complex problems. On the other hand, stubbornness may work for simple problems but is likely to fail in complex ones. Our society should consider whether it encourages stubbornness over perseverance. It’s essential to nurture and support perseverant individuals.
References: paulgraham, “The Right Kind of Stubborn”