College is a place where young adults learn to grow, become self-reliant, become responsible and mature, and get to know what they want to do in their future career path. As students transition from a familiar environment to an uncharted territory of university life, they encounter social dilemmas, peer pressures, and the quest for self-identity. Perseverance becomes crucial, empowering students to navigate through social challenges with resilience, fostering meaningful connections, and overcoming the hurdles of interpersonal relationships. Moreover, the uncertainty of job security casts a shadow over their college experience. The competitive job market demands perseverance in the pursuit of internships, networking opportunities, and the continual enhancement of skills. As college students grapple with the uncertainties of their post-graduate futures, the ability to persevere becomes a linchpin for not only securing employment but also for thriving in an ever-evolving professional landscape. Young college students must embrace perseverance as an essential in their lives in order to succeed.
In my journey into adulthood, I’ve personally learned the significance of perseverance. In particular, it can come in handy when one is feeling depressed, when comparing toward others. There are always people that are more gifted and talented than us, and no matter how hard we try they will always come out on top. In the long term, doubting our capabilities can cause a false image of ourselves. In the long run, doubting our capabilities can distort a false image upon ourselves. For example, everytime I have gotten my exam grade back I tend to go to my friends and ask them what they got on the exam; the results were shocking as their grades are much higher than mine. Looking at their grades, I was in a state of darkness where I felt that no matter how hard I tried working and studying, I will never be able to surpass them.
There was a moment where I believed I worked tirelessly just to get a decent grade on my accounting exam and asked my friend Steve for his grade. The conversation went like this: “Hey Steve, what do you get on the exam?” He said 92, the moment he said that number so calmly was in shock to me, we both studied for the same amount of time effectively and efficiently and I didn’t know what went wrong. I felt so disappointed in myself for the reason being that I was confident in my ability to get a high grade on my exam, and it only came down in shambles. Right at that moment, I felt more is needed to be done because I couldn’t just let them outperform me. So, I immediately went to study, the moment I went home I was determined to ensure that I am up to par with my friend. As Nemko Marty suggests “Don’t innovate, Replicate.” Hearing her words allowed me to realize that knowing the material of a subject is important for your understanding. But if you refine what the professor is trying to tell you, you can decrease the time spent in figuring out what went wrong but rather find ways to improvise to tackle that challenge or problem.
In addition, as young adults go through college, students encounter social dilemmas differently whether it’s peer pressure or even the culture of acceptance that they have to persevere through in order to succeed. As students transition to young adulthood, these challenges become a significant factor of their personal growth and well being. During college, I was one of the students who wanted to fit in a small community such as a small Asian friend group where I can experience a supportive friendship. Ever since I was a highschool teenager getting ready to become a college student my dream goal was to be able to get accepted in a community for who I am as a person rather than being a pawn in someone’s chess game.
Embarking on this journey in college, I soon realized the importance of staying true to myself in social situations. The small friend group and the college experience offered me opportunities to gain diverse perspectives and establish authentic connections with mutual understanding and respect. It wasn’t an easy task as there were many instances where I felt the drawbacks of conformity and the pressure to reach social norms and the group’s expectations.. However, my commitment to staying to my true self remains unchanged which required strong determination of perseverance to push through the social expectation of the group.
During these challenges in college, I learned that perseverance was not just a trait that I possess but rather a muscle that needs constant training. The journey to finding true bonds required lots of moments of self-doubt, resisting to attract conformity, and the pursuit of finding meaningful friendship. As time passes by there were many times of setbacks and rejections that tested my resolve, but at the same time these were also opportunities to strengthen my commitment to truthfulness and perseverance.
As Sudhir Gupta stated: “If an athlete wants to become the best version of themselves, they must continue to work hard, even if they fail or get injured in a competition.” Hearing his wisdom allowed me to recuperate my mental state and developed this mindset where I turn the negative aspect of things into an opportunity to learn. Ever since then I’ve been having a better mindset in learning as well as being positive every day with no negativity. Before I would always wake feeling sorrow and depressed asking myself will my friends ever care about me after we graduate and how will they be supportive. Now I constantly have conversations with them about related interests that both sides of the party have; such as their well being and future goals they may have planned.
As I undergo my undergraduate level in accountancy, I notice the uncertainty of landing a long term job arises. As the job market becomes more competitive, the unemployment rate has increased from 3.5% of last year to a whopping 3.9% today. Looking at the unemployment rate influenced me alot because of the rising competition in the industry and other factors that will impact in landing the job such as economic downturns or even rapid change in the industry causing students like me to change our career paths. In fact according to the Business Insider it stated “Gen Z plans to switch careers at least three times over their working life… 73% of Gen Z said they’re willing to take a big pay cut or step down to pursue a more fulfilling career path…24% of Gen X and 36% of Baby Boomers were unwilling to ruin their career progression for the sake of better job satisfaction.” The data indicates that young adults are willing to change careers for lower compensation; rather than looking at the long term for their dream career.
Recently I was watching a reality show called 令人心动的offer, in translation An Exciting Offer. This reality show demonstrates the interns’ ability to adapt and grow as an intern fresh out of grad school having a taste of what it’s like being a lawyer in the real world. Although each individual is unique in their own, the spots for the full time offer were competitive to a point where 3 out of the 9 interns will receive the offer. Watching the fresh graduates fight/ persevere for a spot in a high end firm allowed me to come to my senses even though people are more or equally talented as you; in the long run it’s how much you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and elevate yourself into achieving that goal.
As I worked through my career, I learned that the only way to get through being insecure about your job assurance is to let it go. If you work hard and are passionate about your work you shouldn’t have a sense of insecurity for your job safety unless the company wants to cut down on employment, which you should have a relaxed mental state. Being laid off can be a frightening thing but rather a room of self reflection and improvement. Students and young adults shouldn’t be frightened about getting a job or not. It should be about the steps being taken to reach that dream job. According to Angels Duckworths describes “the passion aspect of grit as being like a compass: while you may take daily actions that change regularly, your passion and perseverance is the thing that ultimately guides your behavior in the long-term.” This demonstrates how Duckworths encourages young adults to commit to something that they are passionate about and continue to persevere through the challenges to get the results they are looking for.
As I pressed on with my journey toward becoming a future Certified Public Accountant, I devoted countless hours to interviews in order to develop confidence in communicating with recruiters. As each interview session was a challenge I thought of it as an opportunity to demonstrate a path of refinement and improvement of one’s mind. Interviews are always terrifying and there’s no doubt about it, it’s what we do to make it as an asset rather than a liability. As Emily Madill states “Our spirit can feel broken through the challenges that seem unfair and bigger than life. A way to bring our spirit home to a place of wholeness, is to be curious about the different ways and options of moving through life.” Madill explains that life is full of challenges and can impact your health immensely, she encourages that rather than feeling so stressed about having a mindset of curiosity. By having a curious mindset, one finds alternative ways to reach their destinations. Furthermore, in Carol S. Dewick’s book “Mindset: the Psychology of Success” introduces the concept of mindset where one’s mind can influence how they interact with challenges and setbacks. As this is crucial in comprehending why some individuals bounce back from failures while others falter.
In conclusion, the college journey serves as a transformative period where young adults not only face a series of academic challenges but also undergo a series of self identity. As young adults like us, perseverance isn’t just accomplishing goals and achieving academic excellence but it also shapes our character and personality. The wise Helen Keller once said “ A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make a turn.” As we go through college, it’s not about performing well in academics but rather, the steps and process it takes in developing our sense of self identity to persevere to resilience/ changes in order to achieve our goal.
Annotated Bibliography:
Duckworth, Angela Lee. “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.” Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance | TED Talk, www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?language=en. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.
The purpose for Angelas tedtalk is to emphasize and talk about the concept of grit and its impact on achieving long term goals and success.Duckworth discusses her research on the concept of grit and that in order to achieve long term success perseverance and passion is more important than just talent.The target audience is mainly young adults trying to find ways to achieve their goals and their sense of self identity.As my topic talks about the presence of perseverance and its effect on young college adults having someone as credible as Angela duckworths and her research increases my credibility in talking about the idea of perseverance.Something special about this ted talk is that she switched careers to study about a small concept that a lot of people know the answer to. Although her research supports her claims a lot, it’s a bit small and that there are other factors that might have played in her research that she might have not caught on too.
- Gupta, Sudhir. “Perseverance Is an Important Quality as You Will Face Challenges in Life,& It’s a Skill That Will Pay Off.” LinkedIn, 13 Nov. 2022, www.linkedin.com/pulse/perseverance-important-quality-because-you-face-challenges-gupta/.
The purpose of Guptas’ piece is to emphasize and talk about the concept of perseverance and the solutions in persevering through challenges. He discusses how perseverance is built through overcoming challenges. The target audience of the piece is towards young adults who need advice in persevering through life challenges that just need some good words to be put on the right path. This is extremely relevant to my topic as my piece is all about the presence of perseverance. To me Gupta isn’t unique or special but rather a sense of reality check that a lot of people need in their life. The piece is really biased being that we know things need to be done but are really lazy to change.
Madill, E. (2018, November 4). How to transform challenges into opportunities for Growth. Vunela. https://www.vunela.com/how-to-transform-challenges-into-opportunities-for-growth/
The purpose of Emily’s piece is to inform us that challenges ahead of us are inevitable but it’s what we do to make this liability an asset. This piece talks about a solution where instead of facing this challenge of not knowing what to do, make it as a curiosity. By having this sense of curiosity you are able to solve this problem without stressing over it too much. The target audience is young adults as we young adults just stumble across problems and not knowing what to get around it. With the help of Emily, it gives my audience ways they can solve problems without stressing the fact that we can’t solve this problem with a negative mindset. This is unique because no one would ever tell me that instead of trying your hardest and not figuring out the answer, put your mind in a state of curiosity. That way you would have a positive mindset in calming yourself down and to continue to learn effectively because staring at a piece of paper and remembering on how to solve the question isn’t gonna get you anywhere. This has a strength as it always young adults like me to have a positive mindset but its weakness is that there isn’t much statistics in this research to prove it works.
Nemko, M. (n.d.). Do what you love and starve? https://www.martynemko.com/articles/do-what-you-love-and-starve_id1380#:~:text=Replicate.,Why%20be%20a%20guinea%20pig%3F
Nemko’s piece challenges the idea of “Follow your passion, “ or “Do what you love and the money will follow.” This piece explores the essential aspect of whether you should follow your passion or do what we love and the money will follow. The audience of this piece is meant towards college students needing advice on how to continue their career. This is relevant to my piece as it talks more about things college students/ young adults need to consider when going through their career path. I felt that there’s nothing unique or special about Nemko but, one thing is for sure that it’s super biased. Reason for this being that she is speaking about the facts and the reality that I always grow up with, such as when she said “Status is often the enemy of success.” To me when I see that I would agree with it 70-30 because without status you can’t do much. People who go to prestigious colleges have a better chance in landing the same job as someone applying from a lesser prestigious college.
DWECK, CAROL S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
The purpose of the book introduces the aspects of two different types of mindsets. According to Dweck he summarizes that when being born there are two types of mindsets people can have which are a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset is basically when people believe they are at their limit and no matter how they try results won’t show. In a growth mindset people have the ability to grow knowing that there’s room for improvement and will continue to improve.
Bhaimiya, Sawdah. “Gen Z Expect to Change Careers 3 Times throughout Their Lives – Once More than Any Other Generation: Survey.” Business Insider, Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-like-to-job-hop-change-career-survey-2023-11. Accessed 9 Dec. 2023.
The purpose of this text is to inform us students of the statistics of finding a career after graduating. The summary of the piece introduces the statistical analysis of what it’s like graduating from college and working in the real world. As this is written towards college graduates in thinking of what they want to do in their career. This is relevant towards my topic as I my purpose of writing this essay is to inform you that no matter what you do, put your 110% into doing it and persevere through those challenges to succeed. This material isn’t really new but rather a good asset in supporting my claim because if people are contemplating on whether they should change careers they should read this article. The strength side is the experiment that is being done but the weak side to it is what kind of jobs did they change to and how often did they change.
