‘Don’t give up’, ‘Winners never quit and quitters never win’,
‘Have a can do mentality’, ‘Keep your eyes on the prize’ and many more slogans
are phrases that stress the importance of PERSISTENCE.
Persistence is simply continuing in a course of action
despite the difficulties and challenges one may encounter. It is devising a new
means to achieve your goal when the previously devised means fails.
Overtime persistence has been proven to be a major
characteristic trait of champions and winners.
To be able to persevere you must
understand that failing is almost inevitable on your way to achieving your
goals which is why Sir Winston Churchill defined success as moving from failure
to failure with enthusiasm. Failing doesn’t make you a failure, it just means
that you have to devise a new means to achieve your goal.
You know the man who stopped digging when he was just a few feet
within reach of Gold? He may have been talented and may have had a great plan
for how he would use the Gold for the betterment of humanity but he wasn’t
persistent and as such he ended up with oh well…nothing.
So if you have found the one thing your heart beats for or
the dream that keeps you awake at night, excites and scares you at this same
time, write it down. You write because merely thinking about it is not enough
to spur you to action. Then set a deadline, anticipate and prepare for
obstacles, surround yourself with people who will encourage you – firelighters
– take steps towards achieving that goal, be disciplined and stay focused.
The steps you take towards actualizing your goal may include
reading about it, finding someone to mentor you, taking practical classes or
lessons where skills are required.
I remember the story of Joseph, remember him? The dreamer
yes that’s him.
He had a dream that his Father and brothers would bow to him
and though he didn’t know how, he held on to his dream. He was sold into
slavery, wrongly accused by his Master’s wife, was sent to prison but through
it all, he held on to his dream.
Working with his Master Potiphar afforded him the
opportunity to learn managerial skills, he did well in this and his Master put
him in charge of all he had – he had become not just a manager but a leader. Little
wonder then that when Pharaoh put him in charge of ALL of Egypt at the age of
30, he did not fail – he prepared in his persistence.
Joseph was a man of great faith in that he trusted in what
he could not see even when he became a slave, he was tenacious, stayed true to
his beliefs and core values, was disciplined and focused.
The power of persistence beats talent and as Calvin Coolidge
put it "Nothing in the world can
take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than
unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a
proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence
and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved
and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
You may say I have held
on for so long and it seems like my dream is just a dream but know that sometimes
God takes us around the block just to get us to the next room, trust his plan
and yield yourself to discipline and training as there is nothing worse than
getting an opportunity you are not prepared for.
All men and women who
succeeded were persistent. Nelson Mandela, Henry Ford, Helen Keller, Michael
Jordan, Abraham Lincoln were persistent.
Let life teach you and
learn all you can.
Persist in your career, family, relationships, business, love,
faith and dreams until you succeed.
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