No.303 The core element of career transformation - competence and perseverance

Whether the career transformation can be successfully completed depends on many influencing factors, from the external factors to the influence of the environment, the support of family members, the emergence of mentors, their own support system, like-minded circles of friends... These are all going to play a role in fueling the waves. There are some parts of external factors that we cannot control, and what is relatively controllable is our internal factors.

For the internal factors, our professional knowledge and skills, degree of effort, psychological state, etc. are all important factors, and among the internal factors, there are two very core elements, that is, passion and perseverance.

Career line author David Van Rui proposed a performance formula: performance = ability * perseverance.

What is a competency?

The three core elements of competence include: knowledge, skills and competence. Knowledge refers to what you know and understand, and breadth and depth are the evaluation criteria. Skills refer to things that you can operate and accomplish independently, and proficiency is the evaluation criterion. Talent refers to the skills, qualities, and traits that you use unconsciously, with strong personal characteristics, such as affinity, sensitivity, etc.

Why is competence so important? How to improve the ability?

Ability means you have an advantage in this area of expertise, are competitive, can help solve problems, and create value for yourself and others. This is crucial for people who are transitioning careers.

The improvement of ability depends on deliberate learning and practice, continuous improvement. Experience from scratch, to good, excellent, has always been an important basis is to choose their own love, let themselves have passion to engage in long-term work.

Why is passion so important?

Passion means that you like and love something to a very high degree, which is a very powerful internal drive. Passion means that you don't need to be pushed by external forces, you don't need to be forced by others, you will act very autonomously, consciously, and automatically. Passion also means that when you're doing something, your emotional state is passionate. When doing things in this high-energy state, the motivation will be stronger. Passion also means you'll be more consistent and long-lasting in your area of focus.

Otto Xiamo, the founder of U-shape theory, argues that the drive to do things comes from love, and external material rewards such as money will eventually kill people's creativity.

Career transformation means saying goodbye to the familiar field of the past, investing in a completely new field, if there is no passion, only driven by interests such as money, it will not be long before it will re-enter the crisis of career development and face career choices again. Therefore, choosing the work you love and making yourself passionate is what you should pursue.

What does perseverance mean? Why is it so important?

Perseverance is a strong and lasting will, and it is the ability to persist for a long time without giving up easily when encountering difficulties and twists and turns.

According to an annual survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, respondents believe that the number one obstacle to success is perseverance. This shows the importance of perseverance in our career transformation process.

A review of 300 CEO candidates showed that in addition to efficiency and initiative, perseverance is one of the three determinants of success.

How to improve the perseverance index?

Behind perseverance is persistence and time. A great way to develop perseverance is to set a goal that you can accomplish on your own. Add some challenge difficulty to the completion. When the challenge of this goal is successful, on this basis to set a higher goal and a longer timeline, if you can persist from beginning to end, and overcome some difficulties in it, the individual will have a great sense of accomplishment. This sense of accomplishment will always come to your mind, so that the next time you encounter difficulties and challenges, you believe that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and believe that you can persist to the end.