Diligence: Character Trait
Determination and Careful Effort
What does diligence mean to you? The dictionary says that it can be described as determination and careful effort. Do you know of anyone that could be described that way? People that are diligent are often working toward a goal. They are not allowing life to just pass by; waiting for good things to fall into their lap without any effort of their own.
Renner.org says, “If you and I take our life assignment lightly — approaching it with a casual, easygoing, take-it-easy, relaxed attitude — we’ll never go far in the fulfillment of our calling or dream. It takes hard work to achieve anything worthwhile and complaining about how hard it is won’t make the process any easier. I always say, “Live like a slug, and you’ll eat dirt the rest of your life.” So, unless we want to “eat a lot of dirt,” we must make the decision to get up and put our hands to the plow!”
If you do not find diligence easy, don’t worry! Diligence is a skill that can be learned. Below are five traits of a diligent person that you can learn and adopt.
- Become an excellent planner.
Before starting a large project, plan out the steps (big and small) that need to be completed. Once you have the steps planned out, decide when you will be doing each step. This will decrease the risk of becoming overwhelmed and burned out from a project. - Produce excellent work.
Does excellent work help you gain people’s trust? Yes! That trust often turns to credibility. On the contrary, if you finish your project, and it isn’t done well, others will likely not listen to what you have to say about your project. - Do small daily tasks well.
If you do not provide excellent work in the small tasks, you will not be asked to participate in large projects. Small daily tasks are a great place to start if you are wanting to begin your journey to learn diligence. - Push through obstacles.
Another key to learning diligence, is being a problem solver. If you can’t work through your obstacles, your project won’t be as good as it could have been. However, with diligence and determination, a solution can usually be found. - Become self-motivated.
People don’t like to delegate projects, then need to follow up every couple of hours to make sure that it is getting finished. If you have gained the trust of your supervisors through diligence, they will check in to see if there is anything that they can do to help, instead of checking in on you to make sure that you’re still working on the project.
It takes time to cultivate diligence, but with determination and careful effort, it is possible! You won’t ever regret learning the skill of diligence.
