MSLD 500 _ Module 1 _ Activity 1.6 _ Intellectual Perseverance

In your journal entry, reflect upon how intellectual perseverance will be important as you progress in your studies. Consider how intellectual perseverance relates to your concept of a good leader.

Intellectual Perseverance can be defined as the ability to provide the “willingness and consciousness of the need to pursue intellectual insights and truths despite difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations.” It involves the ability to tackle problems in a constructive manner and come to a conclusion that although may have been difficult, has been well thought out and worked through to ensure the most desirable result. Intellectual perseverance is also the development of drawing conclusions to form rational viewpoints with the understanding that the final result may only come after an extended period of time has passed.

I believe that intellectual perseverance will continue to be extremely important to me during my studies, as it has in the past. If I did not have intellectual perseverance I do not think tat I would have had the ability to go through high school, completing both my regular high school courses on top of the technical courses and testing I was taking to achieve my Airframe and Powerplant licenses. Once I went into college, intellectual perseverance grew even more important as I came across many hurdles that almost stopped me from getting my degree. I also truly believe that my studies from high school exhausted me to the point, where college seemed like such an undertaking, I wasn’t sure I could handle so soon. However, with perseverance I pulled through and was able to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree.

After obtaining my undergraduate degree, I gave myself a one year break from school, so I could relax, work and enjoy some down time. Now that I have started my graduate degree, I realize that intellectual perseverance is going to be an integral part of my life as I try to balance working full time, maintaining my household and taking care of my husband and child. I truly believe that I am going to have to find the strength in me to get through the days when I think I might not be able to do this and find the will to push myself to achieving all that I know I can.

Intellectual perseverance will not only help me in taking charge of my personal life and my studies but I believe it will also help me achieve the things I would like to accomplish in my career. A good leader is someone who is considerate, compassionate, hard working, honest, dedicated, competent, intelligent and humble. While all of these qualities have their own definition and nature of achievement, I don’t think that all, if any would be able to be accomplished without the efforts of intellectual perseverance.

A leader needs to be able to take charge and understand that they will continue to come across issues that involve a great deal of difficulty and complexity. A good leader must be able to work with the hand that they are dealt and dedicate themselves to finding the best solution possible under stressful and demanding circumstances. I truly believe that if a leader can master the concept of intellectual perseverance, while failure may be inevitable at times, great success will also be on their list of accomplishments.

        References

The Critical Thinking Community "Valuable Intellectual Virtues" June 1996, Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/valuable-intellectual-traits/528