One of the things that can make or break your journey to success is perseverance.
"Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance." Samuel Johnson
How many times have you given up in the past? Once? Ten times? Dozens of times? You are not alone! Each of us has at some time ended up feeling as if we were fighting a losing battle and thrown down our sword.
As you well know, giving up means admitting defeat. It means failure. No one likes to think about that, but it is true.
Have you ever asked yourself what might have happened if you had continued instead of quitting? Would you have been successful eventually? Did you give up too soon, or was your goal not meant to happen?
Imagine running a marathon and getting angry because the finish line still has not appeared. You sit down, take off your running shoes and brood. It sounds funny, but that is what many of us do when pursuing our goals.
Moreover, in that little example is a hidden gem of wisdom: we give up because we cannot see the finish line. We mistakenly assume it does not exist. We throw our hands up in frustration and quit.
If you can change this tendency, your life will never be the same.
Perseverance literally means to persist in spite of difficulties. It does not mean persist until you run into an obstacle, or persist until it becomes easier, or persist only when you feel like it. It means keep going no matter what. No matter how rocky the road becomes, you just keep moving forward.
What will determine your willingness to persevere? How badly you want your goal! If you are not willing to persist in spite of difficulties, then perhaps your goal is not as important as you think it is. Perhaps it is not what you really want, after all. Only you know for sure. If your goal is vitally important to you, you will do what it takes to achieve it no matter what obstacles you may encounter.
We make the choice to succeed moment by moment.
"The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard, and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune. A few carry on DESPITE all opposition, until they attain their goal. These few are the Fords, Carnegies, Rockefellers, and Edisons. There may be no heroic connotation to the word persistence, but the quality is to the character of man what carbon is to steel." — Napoleon Hill
Rachel Lavern
Rachel Lavern is a Certified LifeSuccess Coach and a business partner of Bob Proctor. She coaches individuals and businesses that want to gain greater personal or business success. She specializes in using Bob Proctor’s principles to create extraordinary growth for her clients’ lives and businesses. She provides workshops and keynote speeches across the country and teaches women entrepreneurs and business owners who want to earn a six- or seven-figure income how to become WILDLY SUCCESSFUL at selling.
