22 October 2008 | Habits | admin

”Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

There is likely no better advice I could give than to tell you to persist. In the face of every obstacle, roadblock, or misfortune you have to persist. Persistence is what separates those who achieve their goals and those who sit and watch as life passes.

The great thing about persistence is that it is a state of mind and can therefore be cultivated. Even if you have persisted in nothing in your life up to this point, you can change your habit and become persistent.

How to build up the persistence muscle

1. Get clear on your goal. If you waiver or change your ultimate goal every day, persistence becomes a challenge. You have to have a vision for what you want and a burning desire to achieve it because this definiteness of purpose and desire will force you to keep going in the face of difficulties.
2. Have a definite plan. Organized plans encourage persistence.
3. Be willing to change direction. Be persistent about holding on to your vision but not necessarily about the method you choose to get to your goal. Be prepared to be very flexible and experiment to see what techniques and strategies work best to get you where you want to go.
4. Believe in yourself. You have to believe in your ability to carry out a plan. Without this core belief any number of things will derail your efforts.
5. Know your plan is sound. Do what you need to do either by acquiring more knowledge or by observing to know that your plan is solid. If you have to account for guessing you will lose focus, time, and motivation.
6. Create powerful habits. Persistence is a result of habit. You can develop this habit by practicing it every day. There is a saying that how you do one thing is how you do everything. When you persist on every task, no matter how small, you become persistent.
7. Tune out the negative. It is likely that somewhere along the way you will get criticism and discouragement from those around you. You have to close your mind to these thoughts and keep your vision in mind. Assume they do not know what they are talking about and stay focused on your goal.
8. Hire a coach or a mentor. Many people see top performers and think that because they have achieved a certain level of success that they must have total belief in themselves, but that’s not always the case.

You will become sufficiently persistent to succeed when your desire for your goal exceeds the pain and discomfort you would have to endure in order to reach it. In other words, the pain of living with your old story has to exceed the pain of paying the price to live a new one. Which pain is greater?

Remember that you cannot have an idea to achieve something without the ability and the way to achieve it also being present simultaneously. If you know what story you want to live, it is already yours!

Here’s a great article on called “The Profiles of Persistence”. A look at J.K. Rowling and Leon Fleisher by Carlin Flora.

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