Character

Regular audience of my blog would argue I am contradicting myself. Some months ago I declared that most of the jobs did not really ask for talent to become successful (see http://ccszeto.blogspot.com/2009/03/achievement.html), but just now I seemed to say that wit is another necessary condition for a high-flyer.

But no. We do not really need a genius to make a good hockey player, university professor, or a brain surgeon. We need some special character - but that's not a body of Wayne Gretzky, a brain of Albert Einstein, or the hands of Arthur Rubinstein.

The character is a trait of obsessiveness, a personality of enduring boredom and tough training, an acceptance of tolerating temporary suffering in order to achieve the ultimate goal, or a mindset to motivate oneself in the face of adversity.

In the classic Marshmallow experiment designed by Walter Mischel, this very capability is called "goal-directed self-imposed delay of gratification".

True, a lengthy term. Whatever we call it, this is probably the most important character we need to cultivate in our next generation - children and students alike.