Overall, the authors did find that mindfulness was correlated with persistence (even when they controlled for the number of anagrams solved). More specifically, the two facets of mindfulness labeled nonreactivity and nonjudging were significantly related to persistence. As the authors conclude,
“. . . these results suggest that mindful self-awareness, particularly nonjudging and nonreactivity, can have a salutary effect on persistence at a difficult task. Higher levels of self-consciousness should contribute to improved persistence on a difficult task due to awareness of a discrepancy between one’s goal state and current state that leads to efforts to reduce the discrepancy. However, the theory of metacognitive awareness (Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 1995) suggests that
However, the theory of metacognitive awareness (Teasdale, Segal, & Williams, 1995) suggests that judgmental and reactive thoughts triggered by a difficult task lead to less persistence because they promote self-criticism, frustration, and impulsive decisions to stop, whereas mindfulness promotes acknowledging self-critical thoughts or frustration and allowing these experiences to dissipate.
It may also be that negative self talk, which is related to task performance and is generally more frequent during difficult tasks (c.f. Ferneyhough & Fradley, 2005), is affected by mindfulness such that subsequent emotions, such as embarrassment or frustration, that might reduce persistence are less likely to occur or are less intense for more mindful participants” (p. 381; emphasis added).
The Child Philosopher 