Persistence is the royal road to success. If you have this one quality, you will succeed in anything. Lack it, and you will be a failure in life. Persistence is to success what carbon is to steel, an essential ingredient. In any endeavor, you will meet adversity after adversity, within and without, and unless you persist through them all, you will not be able to refine your raw understanding of something into the sophisticated knowledge that you need to succeed. We learn from our mistakes. They are a feedback loop, a necessary evolutionary process. It's always exciting to start a new project'build a business, shape a better body, embark on a fascinating relationship'but sooner or later, you will come up against something that you don't know how to handle, something beyond your current range of knowledge, something outside your skill level. Most people at this point, quit. Yet this virgin country is exactly what needs to be conquered. At the very beginning, you have to make a commitment to persist and to see your adventure through to completion. And sometimes you will fail completely, and you can't persist on a certain project; but, you have to get up, wipe the dust off your clothes, and try another project. And if that fails try another one, and if that fails try another one. This is how people become millionaires, famous scholars, brilliant scientists, fabulous artists, and great leaders. They fail their way to success. Life is difficult. It is not easy for anyone. Yet some people appear to have a life of tremendous success and achievement, doing and having things that others can only dream of. These are the people who have passed the persistence test. Evolution itself is the evidence of persistence. Even if your whole life has been a miserable failure, begin now anew. Choose something that you really want to do. Make a commitment to see it to completion. Then begin, and don't stop until you get it. |
