Having Trouble Developing Persistence? Keep At It!

Persistence: the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or
trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people

by Mike Corthell

If you had to select one personal characteristic that you regard highly among successful people, would it be the trait of persistence? Determination? The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up seventy-one? Yes, that's the one trait that separates the winners from the losers.

There is no such thing as 'success on the cheap'. It doesn't exist. We all have to pay our dues. If we want to succeed, we have to pay the piper. The road to success can be long and full of obstacles. Most folks stop when the going gets tough, but the ones who will succeed GET GOING!

 ''Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.''

—Napoleon Hill

There is no other way for us to be successful except by developing persistence in our lives. Here are a few ways that you can start developing persistence:

Learn about the lives of successful people. Knowing that successful people do need persistence to become successful will inspire you to be persistent yourself. So find and read the biographies of successful people. Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Edison. The Wright's.

Anticipate success being difficult. Start down the road to success with the right expectation. Expect a hard road, not the easy way, and you will be emotionally and mentally prepared when you run into the inevitable obstacles.

''Energy and persistence conquer all things.''

—Benjamin Franklin

Know that everything takes time and that time is our most valuable commodity. You understand the difficulty of the journey you are now taking, now don't underestimate the time it will take either. Everyone wants to achieve instant success at first, but this just isn't realistic.

Motivation, have a good reason for what you are doing.  Everyone needs a healthy dose of motivation. How else will you keep trying again? Strong motivation comes from your chief purpose. Know why you want get to your goal in the first place. The 'WHY' must be greater than the obstacles that will inevitably come to trip you up. The bigger your 'WHY' the better.

The agony of defeat. You need to know how to handle failure. Failure is almost a certainty on the path to success, learning how to handle it is crucial. Knowing how to handle failure simply helps you keep up your persistence.

People need people. 'Two heads are better than one.' Things go much better if you have partners that can encourage you. They can help motivate you when things don't go well, and you can do the same for them. See Mastermind Groups.

Don't sweat it man. To persist successfully you need to manage stress successfully. If you don't do this, you won’t be able to stay on the success path very long. So learn some ways to handle it.

Finally, there are some really good reasons for not being persistent, for actually quitting. You may be grateful that Steve Jobs quit college. But he quit because it was pointless for him, not because it was hard.

That being said, when we have a calling or a dream, the most important factor in seeing it realized is PERSISTENCE.

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