“Enjoyment is not attained by pleasure, but by testing, hard work, pain, and determination to go through suffering.” To be able to attain pleasure, we must go through a series of tests. We have to work hard through all the suffering to be able to pass the test and get the pleasure of success itself. We can call this process of achieving success as a way of struggle. The road of struggle is full of challenges. There were insults that were brought down, there were insults that hurt. This path does not offer happiness. But, this is the only way to victory. Education is also one of the biggest challenges when it comes to taking the ladder towards success as nowadays studying in top most universities is as expensive as buying an expensive house! But, the deserving and talented students are given fully funded scholarship opportunities to help them succeed.
“A life that is not fought for will never be won,” Sultan Syahrir advised. This road of struggle is devoid of applause and praise. It should be and is not a problem. Because this endless path is pursued without expecting any human reward. Be taken with a clean soul. Clean from personal ambition, worldly interests, and free from lust. Our hope from this struggle is only goodness from God, the giver of victory in this world and the hereafter.
Once we choose the path of space, the path has no end. And we, you, I, have all chosen the path of struggle. See how hard it is to navigate this road of struggle? So persistence and hard work become important assets for those of us who want to start this journey to be able to bring change and take it to the end.
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Now let’s discuss the meaning of persistence itself, dr. Angela Duckworth from a psychological point of view dr. Angela Duckworth is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania who focuses on the areas of non-IQ competence, self-control and grit to predict success both professionally and academically. For him, persistence is a psychological variable based on the strength of the character of a person who is interested in the process of achieving success in the long term and a strong motivation to achieve goals. Persistence is closely related to perseverance, resilience, hard work, and ambition.
People who are persistent in looking at achievement and success like running a marathon, their excellence depends on stamina endurance. When others retreat in the face of disappointment and boredom, persistent people choose to keep trying at what they stand for. That is why Izaach (2017) and also Jin & Kim (2017) have proven in their studies, that a high degree of persistence will tend to get success and successfully face challenges.
“Life is not a coincidence” that is the mindset that we must cultivate, a vision of life cannot be built from people who feel that their life events are coincidences. A vision can be built from those who live their lives mindfully and evaluate the steps they take. Listen to the word of Allah SWT in Surah Al-Hasyr verse 18 which reads, “Let each self show what he has done for tomorrow” Having a vision in our lives is very important. Because a vision is like a self-commitment to continue a process in life. The existence of a vision seems to force us to always develop, because of the determination to achieve something that has not been achieved before.
Vision serves to direct our steps, to determine our right attitude to continue or wrong to stop. Vision is like a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean at night, so that nomads of life like us can always see the rays of hope and not get lost in the dark. The lives of people who walk without vision, and people who have vision are of course different. The reason is that besides giving a sense of direction, it also helps us organize our focus.
Thomas Alva Edison once said, “if we do everything that can be done, then we will be frantic” in living life, we cannot just live it by doing everything we can. Remember, our resources are limited, setting our focus makes us more effective in achieving our goals.
With a vision, we can be more motivated to prove that what we are aiming for should not be underestimated. When we are in a position like the one I asked above, make that goal the strongest motivation that gives the determination to continue to fight for what we aspire to, as Aristotle said.
In a survey conducted by the University of retired companies who had not worked for ten years, it was explained that eighty-three percent of the respondents did not have the dream of living from the start. Most of them only work hard, survive, and make ends meet.
Still in the same survey, fourteen percent stated that they had dreams, but it was not written. Interestingly, this group has an income three times as much as those without aspirations. Finally, groups that have a clear purpose in life are recorded and have a planning scheme to make it happen. This group is only three percent and they earn ten times more than the first group.
Most of the individuals pitch research proposal for further studies on her life to crack the code of success in their academic organizations. We did our research too and this study gives us an idea, a life that is directed and designed with a clear plan will have a better achievement. So it can be said that people with a purpose in life are more motivated to maintain their quality of life so that it has an impact on the quality of better mental and physical health.
Life according to what we love, according to the needs of many people and get paid. This life will bring us feelings of passion, pleasure, and satisfaction. But on the other hand there is a feeling of worry because this field is not suitable for the skills we have. We can still work on it, it’s just not the best version of ourselves. A life like this will leave us feeling empty. Of course we have to do something that we love completely. However, the most important asset for determining the purpose of life is knowing ourselves.
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