Perserverance And How it Helps

Written By Colēgia

Having the dedication to keep going in our academic endeavors can be difficult, and that's okay. Sometimes things may feel like they are very challenging which is why we need to make adjustments. One area that can help with this is perseverance. Today we want to cover how this concept can help us make it through school.

Extrinsic Rewards

When it comes to perseverance, a reward system is one such way to keep up the pace. There are two types of rewards that we want to cover, extrinsic, and intrinsic. Extrinsic rewards are ones that are tangible in nature such as getting money for doing a good job at something. These can be motivating in the short term and combined with a good mindset can keep you motivated to do many things. One pitfall with extrinsic rewards is that not all of them inherently provide us happiness or fulfillment. While being able to get our favorite candy or food for doing well on a test can give us a mental pick me up, there are some problems. For example, when we place all of our efforts into specifically trying to achieve an extrinsic reward, we can gloss over some of the important sides of something and cut corners. This is an issue because it can develop bad habits which can transfer to other areas. With that in mind, when used in a constructive way and in conjunction with intrinsic rewards, we can help stay motivated to improve and persevere.

“When it comes to perseverance, a reward system is one such way to keep up the pace.”

Intrinsic Rewards

The other side of the reward system are intrinsic rewards. These types of rewards aren't tangible and come from the internal motivation and improvement we see from our own actions. Simply put, this is the type of reward where we “feel” we are getting better at what we do. This can go miles for perseverance as more often than not, it is the driving force behind why we do the things we do. One example of this would be playing a sport consistently to try and be better than when we started. It can be hard to quantify certain aspects but the reward of knowing and seeing our improvement throughout a set time period can keep us motivated. The reason why these work is because they provide a sense of value and meaning that can't be found from extrinsic rewards. One pitfall for this is when we feel we are in a mental rut and can't see our improvement. The lack of tangibility can make it hard to feel that we are being rewarded as this can require a mindset shift. Ideally, we need both of these to help persevere as there are moments where we need to have something extrinsic to give us the drive to do something. A good blend of these would be associating small rewards as we go along for each milestone or having an end goal where the process is engaging and the reward is something we want without it being the only motivator.

“The reason why these work is because they provide a sense of value and meaning that can't be found from extrinsic rewards.”

Perseverance Requires The Right Mindset

While rewards are one way of persevering, they can also falter at times. The best way to truly succeed is to reconsider our mindset. Our perspective has a large impact on how we view school and life. In order to truly make the most out of our school experience, we need to cultivate other areas such as patience and adaptability. Patience can give us the time and space we need to see things from multiple angles. This is crucial as there are things that we may not be aware of within our own scope and time can help with that. Adaptability is also good as it teaches us that we need to be malleable in our thoughts and actions in order to keep up with the challenges we face. There are many things we will learn throughout the course of our lives and having an open mindset with the desire to keep going can help bring out our best possible selves.

Colēgia

Colēgia

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