You did well in school with thinking intelligence. Life needs something else: “commitment intelligence”. I see it in leaders who win long-term.
School problems? Think your way out. Life challenges? Commit your way through.
Commitment intelligence has 3 ingredientes:
- Time horizon – amateurs tend to have an unrealistically short expectation of the time that it will take to see visible evidence of results.
- Responsibility – a growth mindset, a removal of all ways of feeling a victim. As long as you blame anything outside yourself for your lack of progress, you will be limiting your capacity to learn and grow. It may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility if mastery is your goal.
- Staying on the plateau – there are periods in the journey towards mastery where you are not seeing external evidence of changes as you continue to do the work. George Leonard, author of the book Mastery, said that staying the course through these plateau moments is necessary for true mastery.