The Power of Persistence Day 1

Well here we are beginning the second month of the year.  31 days post New Year’s resolutions. How is it going?  Are you seeing the results you wanted, yet? Are you ready to give up? Or maybe already given up? Well, whether you’ve given up, feel ready to give up, or are beginning to make your resolution a habit, here’s some encouragement for you. You can do it. In fact, you can do almost anything if you are persistent! That sounds pretty promising and there are many examples of famous successes credited to sheer persistence. Thomas Edison and his thousands of attempts to make the light bulb work comes to mind. This week we are exploring persistence – what it really is, its tremendous power, and how we can develop it in our own lives.

The Oxford dictionary defines persistence as “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. St. Paul said it produces character which produces to hope. Calvin Coolidge said, "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.”

Last week we talked about the power of taking small steps to achieve our goals in different areas of our lives. Well, the power of those baby steps to cause change and growth is in doing them consistently. Being persistent. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how I realized that it really was not that hard to succeed but it was just so easy to fail.  If only it weren’t for that difficulty and opposition part of the definition of persistence, we might all be persistent and reach our goals all of the time. Funny thing happens to difficulty and opposition when we’re persistent though. Difficulty seems to become less difficult and opposition seems to become less opposing.

So this week, we’re going to explore persistence, its power, how it benefits us, and how we can develop it in ourselves. And later this week, we listen to my interview with a man who grew up in poverty without a mentor or road map to success, became a millionaire. Harneet Ballah shares the lessons he learned on his way to the top.

Come back tomorrow and bring a friend. I hope you’re finding encouragement and value every time you spend time with me. Let me know how you’re doing. Send me an email to [email protected]. I would be so happy to read what you have to say. Check out my Facebook page or find me on Tweeter. Have a great day and a great week. Let’s talk again tomorrow.