Overcoming Natural Fears

Recently, I was discussing with a friend who was worried about his bad habit of submitting his work late and how he is always late for deadlines and meetings. I couldn’t help but sympathise with him. He knew his problem and was willing to admit that this had led him to lose opportunities and he felt he needed to do more and improve on himself.

This a problem that I have encountered with many people but are not willing to admit. Sometimes we feel that the deadline is too far, we still have time. This can wait, we will do it later. It is not important for now.

Before we know it, the deadline is a few days, hours, minutes and seconds away. You regret why you did not start early when you still had the time. You promise yourself you will improve with the next task, but surprisingly sooner or later, you are still in the same position. Why?

I have been doing a great series on UReady by the Bridge Africa on grit. From the series, I have learnt about the ground breaking works of Angela Duckworth on grit. What is grit?

According to Daniel Coyle “GRIT is that mix of passion, perseverance, and self-discipline that keeps us moving forward in spite of obstacles.”

The central thesis in her book and work is that people who persevere through obstacles are the ones who get further in life than even talent. She refers to these people as 'gritty' and in her various tests with students, military cadets, business hotshots among others, she finds conclusive evidence that GRIT is a better predictor of success than popular aspects such as IQ or talent. 

Let’s go back to the problem facing my friend. How many times have we thought that we are not talented enough or we cannot do this because it’s not my thing? My friend has always thought that ‘I am a late person, I will most likely miss deadlines or it’s my thing to be late for meetings’.

However, has he tried to take small steps to change this?

Duckworth notes that when it comes to the psychology of success and achievement, effort is huge. If my friend would put in the effort on a daily basis, prioritise tasks, remain focussed on a task until completion and keep on making the small strides out of the habit of procrastination, with time he will realise that with passion, discipline and perseverance, it is very much possible to overcome this challenge.

In conclusion, embracing a positive attitude and having the grit will enable us to achieve our goals easily and attain success in what we do.