Values › Strength › Persistence
Core value · Strength family
Persistence
Keeping going when progress is slow
Also covers Determination
What does persistence mean as a core value?
Persistence as a core value means keeping going towards something worthwhile over months or years, and showing up steadily long after the excitement has faded and progress has slowed.
Most worthwhile things take longer than anyone expected. Persistence is the value that keeps you at it anyway, through the fourth draft, the fifteenth sales call, the months of physiotherapy where improvement is measured in millimetres. You may not be the fastest or the most talented, and you probably know it. What you have is the determination to keep showing up after the excitement has worn off. You’d rather get there slowly than not at all.
What does persistence look like in practice?
- You keep practising a skill, like a language or an instrument, long after the novelty has gone.
- You follow up a third or fourth time when an important email goes unanswered.
- You rework a proposal after a rejection and send it again.
- You keep a long project moving with small steps on days when motivation is low.
- You stick with a strained family situation that needs time to improve.
When is persistence overplayed?
Persistence can become stubbornness, especially once the goal has become part of your identity. You keep pouring time into a plan that the evidence says won’t work, find it hard to accept that stopping can be wise, and wear out colleagues who have already seen the writing on the wall. Held well, it keeps checking whether the direction still makes sense. A useful test is to write down, at the start, what would tell you it’s time to change course.
Often confused with
Persistence vs Patience
Patience is waiting calmly for things to unfold. Persistence is active: continuing to push when progress is slow.
Persistence vs Resilience
Resilience is recovering from a setback. Persistence is continuing when there’s no dramatic setback at all, just the long, dull middle where nothing much seems to happen.
Persistence vs Hard work
Hard work is the intensity of effort in a day. Persistence is duration: effort sustained over months or years, even at a modest pace.
Questions to sit with
- What have you kept going with long past the point where it made sense, and why?
- Which goal did you give up on too early, and what would it take to try again?
- How do you tell the difference between a slow stretch and a dead end?
More values in Strength
Courage, resilience and staying power.
About the author
Matt Rutherford is a Career and Leadership Coach. The Values Finder is the same exercise he uses with his coaching clients. He also writes Stuff that MattRs, a weekly newsletter with practical ideas to help you think clearer and work better.
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