Persistence Tops Talent, Education or Genius

For the penultimate article in the series I wrote for Gulf news 6 years ago I focused on persistence and the reasons why it’s far more important in the journey to success than basic talent, genius or education.

(I couldn’t resist using a picture of England winning the Rugby World Cup Semi Final for this article! Swing Low, Sweet Chariot on Saturday for the final ………………)

In emphasising persistence I took three particular examples of people whose persistence I have respected.

gulfnews-article 6-29092013
(To read the article, click on the link above. It will open in either a new browser tab or window)

 

If It Works For Zuckerberg

I once heard during a training programme that, as humans, we have a finite capacity for decision making – in other words, we can only make a limited number of decisions in a day or a week, if they are to be quality decisions. When we get in to a situation of decision overload, then we start to make decisions which aren’t as good or in the worst case scenario, may get in to decision paralysis.

So, when I saw this article about some of the most successful people the world has seen, it didn’t seem too surprising. Quite simply – in order to keep them able to make the most important decisions in their lives, they rule out the need to make what they perceive to be inconsequential and insignificant decisions;

Mashable – Why Successful People Wear The Same Thing Every Day

Another Book List

More high quality reading – another great list of business books to enhance personal and professional growth.

Agenda – 30 Business Books Every Professional Should Read Before turning 30

I might be a little past that age right now, but I still think there’s a lot of quality in this list. Personally, I’ve read 13 out of the list so far and have a further 9 of them on my ‘To Read’ list.

Gulf News – Article 7: Doing Amazing Work!

The task of writing 7 articles for Gulf News has now come to an end. The remit was to write articles that would carry some worthwhile advice for young people in the age range from Class 9 upwards. I hope I have achieved this – something for others to judge – not me.

Here is the final article, the topic being something on which I feel very passionate – we only deserve the world’s rewards when we do amazing work and the world is for doers, not spectators.

Enjoy:

gulfnews article 06102013

Gulf News – Article 6: Persistence

I’m pleased to attach here the 6th in the series of articles that I’ve been writing for Gulf News. This was published in the Education Supplement of this morning’s paper:

Gulf News Article – Persistence

The seventh and final article is completed and submitted. I really hope readers of the blog have been enjoying the articles. I’ve enjoyed the rigour of writing for a paper which requires more effort than for the blog directly, even if it did get a bit like pulling teeth sometimes!! So, about 10,000 words later the assignment is over for now.

I’d love to have lots more feedback from the thoughtful, well-informed regular blog readers.