When we’re working towards a goal, few character traits are more important than resilience. Why is this so? Because, ultimately, what separates success from failure is the decision not to give up on a goal.
There are times when what we are doing is clearly not working and it can seem like reaching our goal is impossible. At that point we naturally start to wonder whether we were too ambitious and whether we have mistakenly committed to something that we cannot achieve. More than likely, what we are missing is a correct understanding of what we really want.
If resilience is the capacity to continue working even in the face of difficulty, then it must be rooted in wisdom. Wisdom means knowing and understanding our underlying goals; it means knowing what will make us truly satisfied.
The path to wisdom is through the development of mindful awareness. If we make mindfulness a priority in our lives then we will not become confused about our goals. We will be able to correct mistakes more quickly because we will know when a particular course of action is not inline with our goals. And finally, we will know how to correct our mistakes so that we can get back on the right track.