The Power of Persistence

Cancer researcher Judah Folkman has died. Folkman was a visionary who for more than 30 years pursued his idea that cutting off a tumor’s blood supply would stop cancer growth. Today, more than one million of cancer patients are being treated with medication based on his groundbreaking research.I’m writing about Folkman because his life and work demonstrates that success often requires sticking to ideas even in the face of skepticism and criticism. When he first proposed his ideas about cutting off the blood supply his colleagues didn’t take him seriously. Cancer research in the 70s focused on improving chemotherapy drugs. But Folkman didn’t give up on his idea to swim with the mainstream. Instead, he pursued it with great determination even though his own experiments didn’t always deliver the results he had hoped for. It eventually paid off and in 1998 the Ney York Times celebrated him on page one as the man who could cure cancer. Though these hopes were too high, drugs targeting a tumor’s blood supply are today a fixed part of many treatment plans.

Secret of success

In my opinion, Folkman’s story highlights one of the biggest differences between successful people and less successful. It’s often not about skills, talent, knowledge, power or money. The difference is in the degree of determination and persistence. I read in Folkman’s obituary in the Boston Globe that he liked to joke “if your idea succeeds, everybody says you are persistent. If it doesn’t succeed, you’re stubborn”.

The thing is, many people with good ideas give up because they are afraid of being perceived as stubborn.

No such word as ‘failure’

According to the same obituary a friend said about him, that there was no such word as defeat in Folkman’s lexicon. A setback like an experiment with inconclusive results was only a learning point. Relentlessly, Folkman tried again with new experiments to prove that cancer growth can be stopped by cutting off the blood supply.

This is the second secret of success: the ability to view failure only as a temporary setback. On the long run, each failure offers the possibility to learn from it and thus gets you one step closer to your goal.

Experience success through the assistance of a life coach

Not many people have this ability, and exactly here a life coach could help. A life coach provides support, offers feedback, designs with you a plan how to achieve your goal and will help to refocus in times of temporary setbacks.

Most importantly, a life coach will help you to silence your “inner critic”; it’s this voice inside your head which most of us know too well: “You are not good enough; nobody cares; who you think you are?” The road to success is rocky enough without the added burden of the inner critic.


Afraid of improvisation?

Yesterday, I took an Improvisation workshop for Life coaches. It was a workshop with Daena Giardella, an amazing actor, writer, creativity and acting coach.

While I was listening to her, I became more and more aware of the little space we give to spontaneity and improvisation in our lives. All the time, we strive to be perfect. We plan and follow rules, anxiously trying to avoid failure.

But if we restrict ourselves to what’s already tried and tested, how will we find new solutions and make exciting discoveries?

Daena says, “Improvisation is about making choices and daring to give them your fullest commitment even before you know why or where it will lead you.”


Only 12 % of New Year’s resolutions successful

How is it going with the New Year’s resolutions? Still trying to stick to the resolutions? How about participating at a psychological research study? (http://richardwiseman.com/, link to study sign up at the bottom)
Prof. Richard Wiseman, the lead researcher of this online research project, says that according to previous research the success rate for New Year’s resolutions is only about 12 %. Wiseman and his team tracked last year the resolutions of more than 3000 people from the US and the UK. Resolutions with the highest success rate (between 24 and 32 %) have been: “enjoy life more”, lose weight, improve fitness, and limit or stop drinking alcohol and/or smoking.

Wiseman says that the sexes should follow different strategies to make success more likely.

Men should follow the rules for SMART goals (see previous blog entry) and divide the” big goal” into easier achievable sub goals. It also helps them to remind themselves frequently of the benefits for their life if they achieve their goals. A helpful structure for men would therefore be to write down a list of benefits and put the list in a place where they see it often.

Women increase their chances of sticking to their resolutions by telling others about them. Therefore Wiseman advises women to go public with their pledges by telling friends and relatives. In addition, women need reminders that slipping up once in a while is no reason for giving up altogether.

As I said in a previous posting, breaking old habits and adopting a new lifestyle needs time. Therefore, be gentle with yourself and take your time. View “failures” to stick to your resolutions as temporary setbacks and try it again.


SMART Goals

How is it going with the New Years resolutions?

Already struggling? It’s an old game, almost a ritual – we start every year fiercely determined to make important changes in our life, from losing weight to exercising more, or sleeping more…..and then, after two weeks, it’s over and we are back to square one. The problem:  we don’t do it right with the resolutions. Psychologists say that setting SMART goals will increase success rates.

Here is what the acronym SMART stands for with respect to resolutions and goals:

S= Specific: Make a specific resolution. Instead of “eating healthier” , “I will eat two apples per day”

M= Measurable:  Make your progress measurable. Example: if you want to lose 10 pounds overall, then losing one pound per week is measurable.

A= Attainable: Be realistic. Don’t hope  to lose 20 pounds in two months and then keeping the pounds off.  For permanent weight loss you must take it slow. The same applies to all major lifestyle changes. If you didn’t exercise at all before, don’t expect to do it suddenly one hour per day. Unrealistic expectations are the main reason that people give up on their resolutions.

R= Relevant:  Is your health relevant to you? If not, why a resolution concerning a healthy lifestyle? Don’t do it, just because your friends want to improve their health. You won’t stick to health related resolutions anyway and it would be just a waste of time. Don’t make more thean 2 or 3 resolutions and stick to things you are passionate about.

T= Time-bound: Set a time frame within which you will realize your resolutions. As I said before, drastic lifestyle changes are not happening in one minute.

If you are unsure how these rules apply to your personal goals, I like to offer you my life coaching services. Together, we will find the right goals for you. Goals that are really important to you and structured in a way that you have the best chances to turn them into reality.