Stickability.

Stickability is one of my favourite terms because it’s all about that everyday habit of hanging in there when life throws you a hospital pass and you wonder when something is finally going to go your way. Stickability, resilience, grit, determination, perseverance - whatever label you slap on it, it all points to the same idea.

Everyone cops setbacks. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. What matters is whether you keep showing up. That’s the common thread running through the heavyweights of history and philosophy. Jung, Nietzsche, Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky,… and my personal favourite of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor who epitomized stoicism. The bloke was running the Roman Empire during wars, plagues, political chaos, and personal heartbreak… and he still managed to write a journal reminding himself to stay calm, stay disciplined, and stay responsible for his own actions. No excuses. No blaming. Just relentless self-improvement.

And if you want another example of stoic grit in action, look at Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The bloke survived the Soviet gulag system. Starvation, brutality, freezing conditions, constant fear and somehow walked out with his mind intact. Instead of collapsing under the weight of it all, he used the experience to write The Gulag Archipelago, expose the truth, and reshape world understanding of totalitarianism. That’s stickability at the absolute edge: holding onto your humanity and purpose when you’ve got every reason to give up.

Angela Duckworth backs this up from the modern angle. Her research shows that long-term success has far less to do with talent and far more to do with “grit”, turning up again and again, even when the excitement disappears. Passion plus perseverance. It’s scientific proof that consistency beats raw ability.

And then there’s the great Jordan Peterson’s take: People seriously underestimate what they’re capable of. According to him, there’s a stronger, more competent version of you waiting on the other side of discipline and responsibility. Once you actually aim higher and put in the work, you discover you’re far more capable than the story you’ve been telling yourself.

Here’s the truth most people don’t want to hear. If you keep blaming others for where you’re at, you’re giving away your power. You can’t control the world, but you can control your mindset, your effort, your habits and your next move. And that’s where the real wins come from. Tiny daily improvements that quietly stack up until one day you realise you’ve shifted your whole life.

You’ve got far more potential than you think. Everyone does. You just need to steer your attention toward the things you can change and take responsibility for what comes next.

A few things that make a massive difference:

• Get organised. Use a calendar. Plan your day, your week, your next 12 months. 

• Choose your attitude. Hunt for positives even in tough situations. 

• Hit the ground running in the morning. Treat every day like it’s packed with new opportunities. 

• Stay in the fight when it gets tough. That’s exactly when most people quit.

Stickability isn’t loud or flashy. It’s that stoic, steady, keep-going energy. But if you commit to it, even just a little each day, you’ll surprise yourself with how far you can go.