Six Essential Personal Qualities Worth Nurturing from Young
By Dr Goh Seh Kai
29 May 2021
Generally, we aspire to be viable in life, but it is challenging to fulfil it without possessing some vital attributes. In this article, I wish to share my views on six personal qualities worth nurturing from young — perseverance, endurance, respect, humility, adaptability, flexibility — that I think are essential to people who aspire to overcome the challenges to realize their objectives.
Perseverance: Since young, teachers have constantly reminded us to persevere in our studies. While working, we are again regularly demanded to stay on our toes to achieve organizational objectives. We shall treasure all these experiences that are opportunities for strengthening our ability to persevere.
Sometimes, people might face challenging tasks and contemplated giving up since they might have strived very hard for a long time but could not attain their goals. I think it is pitiful to abandon because if they could persist, they might achieve their objectives eventually. Hence, we shall enhance our ability to persevere as it is crucial to our achievements.
The famous inventor Thomas Edison (1874–1931) had quoted: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”.
In any circumstance, we shall continue regardless of any setback as it is not equal to failure but an opportunity to move one step nearer to our goal. If we could persist, we would have a chance to achieve our goals.
Likewise, it will be best for us not to accuse external factors of any impediments affecting our progress but strategize how to overcome them.
We shall again ignore others who may mock us and continue to put in efforts that will help us fulfil our dreams one day, and even if we fail, we can learn from the failures and do it better in the next attempt.
Endurance: Endurance is an ability to sustain hardship in life and critical to perseverance. People might surrender to external force when they could not withstand the pressure that they were experiencing.
For example, students might have to deal with heavy schoolwork like assignments, examinations, etc. Although some students might enjoy the challenges, others might feel stressed and worried about attaining excellent academic goals.
These students might avoid stress by relaxing in their studies. As a result, they might perform poorly or fail to achieve their goals. However, those who could endure would have a high chance to attain better academic performance.
Likewise, workers might resign due to unable to cope with heavy workloads. They could not sustain the pressure that has endangered their mental health. Although managers’ responsibility is to help reduce workers’ workload, employees shall find ways to handle their stress through exercises, meditation, healthy diets, etc. Their ability to endure will significantly impact their perseverance for success.
The importance of “endurance” had been emphasized by the founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford (1863–1947), who had once said: “Unless you have courage, a courage that keeps you going, always going, no matter what happens, there is no certainty of success”. It is really an endurance race”.
Endurance is indeed an attribute that we shall cultivate to enable us to succeed in life.
Respect: A Chinese Confucian philosopher, Mencius (372–289 BCE), had quoted: “He who loves others is constantly loved by them. He who respects others is constantly respected by them”.
We would win respect from others if we could treat them the same in any interaction. We need to be sensitive with others when interacting with them by using appropriate words, gesture, posture and behaviour.
How we react to others — such as courteous, rude, unfriendly, etc. — will leave them an indelible impression. We shall not humiliate others publicly or privately as most people like to be well respected despite their status.
If every team member could respect one other to work harmoniously and be united in a team, the team would perform well. As individuals, our respectful behaviour would enable us to win friends and create opportunities for us when we need help from them one day.
Besides gaining respect from others, there are many advantages to being a respectful person — for instance, teachers like students who respect them and will render more help to them when they need it.
At home, parents love obedient children and take more care of them. Being a respectful person will always provide people with opportunities when they urgently need them to revive their current situation.
For instance, in my career, I am fortunate to secure many of my jobs by my former colleagues’ recommendation due to my politeness and respectful behaviour towards others.
Hence, we shall continuously cultivate the habit of respecting others even though they do not treat us the same in return.
Humility: Albert Einstein once said: “A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing “. He also quoted: “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it”.
Indeed, we cannot guarantee our knowledge will not be obsolete one day because of frequent changes in the world, especially technological development.
Business owners shall not be proud and complacent with their past and present achievement. As technological development continues, managers could no longer address their current issues efficiently and effectively with old knowledge.
Business owners should continue to embrace new technologies and know-how to uplift their competitiveness and revive their business performance.
Also, they must regularly acquire appropriate workers and equip them with the required soft and hard skills to support their transformation through training and retraining.
As individuals, although we might be skilled and intelligent now, technological development will gradually weaken our foundation and gradually undermine our ongoing competency.
Humble employees willing and capable of learning and applying the latest knowledge and skills to help organizational change will be highly sought-after.
Therefore, it will be best for us to continue to pursue lifelong learning to learn new skills to stay relevant and avoid being redundant. This premise is in line with what the co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs (1955–2011), reminded the graduands of Stanford University to always stay hungry and foolish during the graduation ceremony in 2005.
Adaptability: The English naturalist, geologist and biologist, Charles Robert Darwin (1809 –1882) had quoted: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works co-operatively against common threats”.
Adaptability is the ability to cope with new situations. People might adhere to a fixed mindset and unwilling to change despite different problems emerging. As a result, they might miss seizing the opportunities to revitalize their current impoverished stage.
For example, individuals might not pursue highly sought-after knowledge and skills to stay viable because they are uninterested in them or feel challenging in uplifting their skills.
However, they could cultivate their interest and develop their capability through lifelong learning, as it is a matter of time that they will become an expert one day if they are willing to change.
As a result of adaptability, they would find their skills in high demand, which enables them to demand better remuneration in the competitive job market.
Similarly, besides core competencies, business owners must constantly catch up with external changes, such as economic, technological development, etc. and adapt accordingly.
Many real-life cases have reminded us about the importance of adaptability for survival. For example, digital camera technology has undermined film camera businesses, and mobile phones can substitute digital cameras.
As a result of external influences, managers need to adapt by transforming their business model to avoid being redundant. For instance, although many travel and tourism business owners have closed their business during the pandemic, some have embarked on other types of endeavours, such as transportation and warehouse business, etc.
It is paramount to foster an “adaptability” mindset to tide through any problematic situation.
Flexibility: If we are flexible, we can easily change when required, similar to adaptability but short-term. Most people resist change since it will upset their plans, and more work is needed to change their current practices.
Business owners might hesitate to change even though they are heading in the wrong direction because they might be afraid of losing their prior investment in time and resources due to the change. Or they might not want to lose face for having to change their plans.
Business owners shall understand that with flexibility, they can respond to new situations swiftly to be viable. Although they need to stick to their mission, they shall change their strategies to achieve it more efficiently or effectively.
For instance, manufacturing managers need to stop their production immediately to rectify serious quality problems due to customer complaints. They might need to change their production schedule by working overtime to complete urgent work if required.
Flexibility is especially crucial during crises, such as the current pandemic that require fast responses to tide through this challenging period.
The co-founder and former CEO of Teledyne, Inc, Henry Earl Singleton (1916–1999), once said: “I do not define my job in any rigid terms but in terms of having the flexibility to what seems to me to be in the best interests of the company at any times”.
As a worker, there are many advantages to be flexible. For example, superiors and peers prefer to work with flexible workers who can cooperate to change to fulfil organizational objectives. They will provide their support to these workers in return when requested.
The “Flexibility” attribute is indeed worth developing and crucial for survival.
In summary, we shall have the abilities to realize our objectives in today’s challenging world. I believe the six personal attributes — perseverance, endurance, respect, humility, adaptability and flexibility — are worth developing since young for individuals to overcome the challenges and realize their aspiration.
Thank you for reading, and your feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated.
