Perseverance — the #1 Stage Red virtue for life purpose and meaning

[Carl-Richard]

When you find out what you really want to do, what you really value, what you really feel drawn towards doing, that's meaning, and when you construct your life around that, that's your life purpose. People who do this are driven by their very nature and can achieve great things if they keep going down the right track.

However, life is filled with challenges. There will be people, experiences and environments that might make you doubt yourself, your abilities, even your values. And when this happens, you might feel lost, confused, disappointed, disillusioned and discouraged to keep going down what you think is the right track. And while you might learn a lot of new things about yourself when that happens, a core thing to remember is: persevere. 

We often underestimate what we are capable of, what is possible and what opportunities and lessons may lie around the corner as you persevere and keep yourself on the right track. Emotions like fear and anxiety want you to close off and reduce uncertainty, because uncertainty is often associated with danger. However, it's also possible to tap into the opposite predisposition, of persistence and perseverance, and also reduce uncertainty: I have set my goals, and I will keep going. But also, here uncertainty is not seen as purely negative, but again, as a source of opportunities.

Doing this is not the same as being blindly optimistic or unrealistic or not willing to deal with cold hard facts. You should be willing to open yourself to everything that may provide you valuable information that can help you pursue your goal. It's simply that when things look dark and you start doubting, you keep pushing forward. Because before you know it, you'll break through to an ocean of light on the other side.

 

How

But how do you practically do this? How do you practically tap into this feeling and awaken it within yourself? You simply need to look at what is possible, particularly the stories of other people. There are potentially endless examples out there, but one that struck me recently and which awoke this insight within me is this woman, Kate Tolo, the co-founder of Project Blueprint.

She has a fascinating story going all the way back to her childhood, but in short, she was 21 when she stumbled upon Bryan Johnson, started contacting him trying to get hired, got ignored but kept contacting him for years, eventually landed a job interview, got rejected, contacted him again and got rejected again, then essentially begged him, and finally she got hired and soon became the co-founder of now one of the most rapid-growing businesses in the US (Project Blueprint).

In the video I linked at 34:09, she is asked what is the best advice that she has ever received. She doesn't answer the question but instead gives the best advice she could ever think of giving, which is itself a huge sign that this is something deep, because she can't help herself but to share it. And for me, it was. And just like I've been stating, here is what she said:

Quote

[...] To persevere. This is something I've experienced from the best people that I've met in my life. The willingness to keep doing something in the face of, like, failure, discomfort, not seeing success as a feedback loop, like, every time I've persevered through something, it always comes out to how I want it to come out. So if you have an idea of what you want, keep doing it, it will self-resolve.

When I heard this, I thought "cool" and I felt some sense of inspiration, but only later, it really dawned on me what the ramifications of it truly are. And when it did, I was filled with a warm feeling of love in my chest, a feeling that I was now allowed to express what I truly felt. Because it turns out, despite having extensively explicated my values and life purpose, I've been discouraged, had doubts, seen some of the dark, and all I needed was some little boost and encouragement.

There are again many other examples that could inspire and awaken the feeling of perseverance in you. One funny but a bit trite example is Andrew Tate's response to the media about him trying to become the next British prime minister:

Quote

[...] I guarantee that there is a timeline that everybody is going to live in, every single person watching this video at some point in the future, is going to watch me become the prime minister of the UK [...]

When I heard that, I was like "wow, this is a guy who just doesn't give up".

I also get the same feeling when watching my country's politicians speaking on TV, particularly our prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre and our now soon-to-be ex- Secretary to the Treasury, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. When I watch them, I get the sense that no matter what challenge, tension or scandal is upon them, they are so driven and focused to get to a solution and keep going forward, without losing their step or their ability joke or smile.

 

No matter what you do, and no matter how persistent or flaky you are about it, merely doing it is itself an act of perseverance. If you for example are typing an e-mail but the internet cuts out and you can't send the e-mail, you might spend quite a few minutes trying to fix the internet, and when you do, you can finally send the e-mail. It might've been a minor challenge, but you persevered. And you couldn't have been sure that you would be able to fix the internet, but you tried, and it worked, and you could send your e-mail.

So you are persevering in many aspects of your life all the time. What I'm suggesting is that you can become more conscious about it and also apply perseverance in a general and long-term perspective, and it will bathe you in a warm blanket of love for your goal and yourself, reinforcing the drive and meaning you feel from your life purpose.

I have experimented with other types of "catch-all" values or mindsets that augment your mind in a way that seems valuable, but many of them seem to subtract something from you more than they add anything to you (for example, "your feelings are not real"). You can operate extremely efficiently from such a mindset, but you might also become very ungrounded and lost very quickly (as you get dissociated from your feelings). The value of perseverance simply amplifies an already existing value, your highest value, your life purpose, and that's really it. Other aspects of yourself, except doubt, uncertainty, fear and flakiness, are kept mostly intact. And it doesn't only amplify a part of yourself, but it amplifies who you truly are.

And even if you experience doubt, uncertainty, fear and flakiness, perseverance doesn't actually negate or repress those feelings. Perseverance mainly deals with what you are "doing" (in terms of working towards your goals), not how you should feel or respond to a particular thing (in contrast to "your feelings are not real"). You keep doing the right things, but you don't stop yourself from feeling. However, when you're doing the right things, those feelings will rarely arise.

 

So what perseverance fundamentally does is it emboldens you to stand up for who you are and not back down too easily from a challenge. And that's why it's also a Stage Red virtue, because it emboldens your core sense of individuality. With that said, if your values and life purpose are aligned with something other than Red, don't be afraid that you will "become Red" by emboldening your sense of individuality. Your individuality is core to who you are, no matter if you're Red, Blue, Green or Yellow. So be yourself, and persevere.

Edited Saturday at 09:55 PM by Carl-Richard

[Rishabh R]

This is a great post . Also @Carl-Richard one can apply growth mindset by Carol dweck .

[ryoko]

I've been meaning to highlight the best of all stages. Good start.

[mmKay]

The stage blue equivalent is Devotion good stuff

[Sandhu]

I'm going to do my workout that I wasn't feeling to do before this post. Thank you.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Yes, I have also noticed that, just like you said, this "feeling" of perseverance doesn't stomp on the already existing emotions and sensations, but rather bypasses them. This also guarantees that you'll not be doing something senselessly and stupidly, you can always choose to quit if you sense what you're doing is unhealthy or unreasonable, as opposed to doing it the David Goggins way. Which was always my main problem with him, is that what he's doing is stupid and unreasonable, despite his work ethic and discipline.

Yes, I think you are onto something with this one. You've inspired me. Maybe constantly inspiring oneself is also important in this?

Edited Saturday at 05:18 PM by NewKidOnTheBlock

[integration journey]

This is great. Thanks 

[Carl-Richard]

Thanks for perservering and reading through the entire thing 😃

Edited Monday at 08:08 PM by Carl-Richard

[Yimpa]

8 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Thanks for perservering and reading through the entire thing 😃

Your welcome!