Perseverance

When you look at the list of 24 VIA (Values in Action) Strengths, you’ll see that perseverance is also associated with industriousness and diligence because the three traits are so similar in the real world.  Here’s a definition ofperseverance from Dr. Seligman that gives a clear picture of it:

“You finish what you start.  The industrious person takes on difficult projects and finishes them, ‘getting it out the door, with good cheer and minimal complaints.  You do what you say you will do and sometimes more, never less.”

If that describes you, congratulations!  Perseverance is probably one of your signature strengths.  But if, like me, finishing what you start takes genuine effort and determination, don’t give up hope.

Grit

Grit is a combination of passion and persistence. Having grit means pursuing your goal with vigor and focus over an extended period of time. Less gritty individuals are easily discouraged or frequently led off track by new interests.

Being gritty means:

Finishing what you begin

Staying committed to your goals

Working hard even after experiencing failure or when you feel like quitting

Sticking with a project or activity for more than a few weeks

There are certain charaxter strenghts that can more than make up for various obstacles to learning and success in life. Grit is one of these Charcter strenghts. Manifesting itself as a presistence, undaunted courage, determination, steadfastness, and a refusal to back down in the face of adversity, grit is a character streght that can lead to success no matter how high the obstacles.

How to improve your Grit:

It’s important to know that there are still a lot of open questions about grit, including the degree to which it is a teachable skill and, to the extent it can be learned, how best to teach it. Though the research about grit is still emerging, we do have some ideas about how you might develop grit.

Cultivate a growth mindset and optimism.

We believe that the idea of grit is related to both optimism and a growth mindset. When you believe that setbacks are temporary and that problems are surmountable with effort and ingenuity, you’ll likely try harder, or try another tactic, when you encounter obstacles.

Challenge yourself in your practice.

Research on world-class experts in music, sports, chess, and other domains suggest that thousands of hours of deliberate practice are necessary to achieve the highest skill level. Often, when we look at those who are successful in their field, we don’t see the hidden hours of gritty and grueling practice it took to get there. We believe that productive practice should focus on weaknesses, feel difficult, be repetitive, and include immediate and informative feedback.

Stay passionate about your purpose.

Grit isn’t just hard work and persistence—it’s also passion for a personally meaningful goal. Determine the topic or activity that captures your attention the most, and work on developing grit in that area. We suggest enhancing your practice and interest by working with role models, coaches, and peers to develop that interest and skill over time.

Know it’s OK to quit.

Not every piano-playing ten-year-old will become a piano-playing twenty-year-old. It’s OK to quit activities, but choose the right time to quit: after you’ve been thoughtful and reflective, and definitely not in a moment of frustration. Gritty people know the difference between the two and quit responsibly.

Perseverance As A Top Strength:

If Perseverance is your top strength, you work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.

Virtue Category: 

Perseverance falls under the virtue category of Courage. Courage describes strengths that deal with overcoming fear. These strengths can manifest themselves inwardly or outwardly as they are composed of cognitions, emotions, motivations and decisions.

Key Concepts:

Perseverance involves the voluntary continuation of a goal-directed action despite the presence of challenges, difficulties, and discouragement. There are two vectors of perseverance. It requires both effort for a task and duration to keep the task up.  

How to improve your Zest?

Exercise!

Make a concerted effort to exercise because physical activity can increase your energy and vitality.

Refuel

Get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.

Become one with nature

Find time to engage with the natural environment, as contact with nature can influence vitality.

Gain autonomy

Play an active role in your decisions, because greater autonomy tends to lead to greater energy and engagement.

Do what you love

Dr. Jonathan Haidt suggests doing something because you want to do it, not because you have to do it. Find your passion. What do you love to do? If you already know what your passion is, then build time for it in your schedule. If you don’t, then try to discover it. What did you love to do when you were younger? Try it again now.

Zest

Positive psychologists say that zest is one of the five character strengths that contribute most to a sense of life-satisfaction.  (The other four are curiosity, gratitude, optimism, and the ability to love and be loved.)  If you’re looking for a way to increase your happiness, add some zest to your life.

Zest is defined as “a sense of expectation, intuition, hope, energy and excitement.”     The dictionary says that it’s gusto, liveliness or energy, the animating spirit.  Whooo-Hooooo!  Who couldn’t go for more of that!

In the strengths classification system developed by positive psychology founders Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson, zest is equated with enthusiasm and falls under the virtue of transcendence.  People who possess zest/enthusiasm in a high degree, they say, “approach everything with excitement and see life as an adventure.”

There are a few working ways to help individuals cultivate zest:

One method to cultivate zest is acting "as if,' which involves living a "faith-based" rather than an "evidenced-based" life. This means believing in things that there may not be much evidence for or proof of. Additionally, adopting strong body language may help, as well as "faking it until you make it" meaning acting as though one has an increased enthusiasm for life (more zest) until that increased enthusiasm is a reality (thus, an increase in zest is a reality) .

Another 2012 study demonstrated that groups that trained strengths (worked to cultivate these strengths) which are highly correlated with life satisfaction (including zest), had significant improvements in self-reported life satisfaction post-test (after training those strengths). Zest can be an important characteristic to cultivate life satisfaction, thereby acting as a potential buffer against mental illness.

MY OPINION
Well my opinion is that this part of the blog is very important, well to me because in this part says how to apply

Zest As A Top Strength:

If Zest is your top strength, you approach all experiences with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

Virtue Category: 

Zest falls under the virtue category of Courage. Courage describes strengths that deal with overcoming fear. These strengths can manifest themselves inwardly or outwardly as they are composed of cognitions, emotions, motivations and decisions.

Key Concepts:

Zest is a dynamic strengths that is directly related to physical and psychological wellness. This strength has the strongest ties to overall life satisfaction and a life of engagement. 

Exercises For Boosting Zest:

• Improve your sleep hygiene by establishing regular sleep time, eating 3-4 hours before sleeping, avoiding doing any work in the bed, not taking caffeine late in the evening, etc. Notice changes in your energy level.
• Do a physically rigorous activity (bike riding, running, sports singing, playing) that you always wanted to do but have not done yet.
• Call old friend and reminisce good old times.

MY OPINION 

Well my opinion is that this character strenghts are one of the most important because this we use all days in all the months in all the years.

Last week we talk about "Social Intelligence" now that we have see that we are cgange of topic and thus week is: "Zest". So let´s Start.

If Zest is your top strength, you approach all experiences with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

Zest, sometimes referred to as vitality, is an approach to life filled with excitement and energy.

Phrase of Social Intelligence

Lev Davidovich Bronstein; Yanovka, Ucrania, 1877 - Coyoacán, México, 1940) Revolucionario ruso. Nació en una familia judía de labradores propietarios y estudió Derecho en la Universidad de Odessa. Participó desde joven en la oposición clandestina contra el régimen autocrático de los zares, organizando una Liga Obrera del Sur de Rusia (1897). 

Trotski

Fue detenido varias veces y desterrado a Siberia; pero consiguió huir de allí en 1902 y se unió en Londres al que ya aparecía como jefe de la oposición socialdemócrata en el exilio: Lenin. Aunque discrepaba de su concepción autoritaria del partido, colaboró con él e intentó en vano reconciliar a la facción que dirigía (los bolcheviques) con la facción rival de la socialdemocracia rusa (los mencheviques).

Social Intelligence

Social Intelligence

Phrase of Social Intelligence