Persistence is where the battle is won or lost. Persistence or lack of it is usually the number one reason for failure. Many people start many things but few ever finish. It doesn’t matter how intelligent or educated you are, how many degrees you’ve got or even how experienced you are, if you give up then none of that matters. Persistence is the foundation upon which everything else is built.
When it comes to persistence, there are only two participants; you and the obstacle. One of you will win and one of you will lose. Like a duel in the sky between two fighter pilots; they cannot both survive. One will live and the other will die. Likewise, only you or the obstacle will emerge victorious. But that is within your control and is also your choice. Only by persistence will the obstacle start to crumble and eventually be defeated. There is no other way and no easy way. However, if you choose not to persist and give up, then the obstacle will defeat you. It’s your choice.
Failure is also part of success as long as we persist. Our response to failure should be twofold; first we need to analyse the defeat and see where we went wrong, and learn the lesson so that we don’t repeat it. Secondly, we must persist and take corrective action. Persistence without learning the lessons of our failures would be sheer stupidity. It would only be setting ourselves up for continual failure. But wisdom is gained when the lessons are learned and we use that wisdom for our next move.
But the person without persistence does not benefit from this wisdom because they quit and never reach their goal. Persistence also strengthens our character, aswell as bringing us closer to our goal. When I was in sales I saw many people quit at the first sign of disappointment or adversity. A bit of rough rejection or someone they were depending on lets them down and they gave up. Another common reason was unrealistic expectation of results.
In other words expecting quick and large results with only minimum effort. And when they didn’t see the results quickly enough they quit. Lack of persistence is what caused them to fail in the vast majority of the cases. The same can be seen in other areas such as keeping fit. Only the people who demonstrate persistence achieve outstanding and lasting results.
Victory in any area, from business to war, can always be credited to the fact that persistence was the underlying factor. They just simply wouldn’t give up. Sure, you may have a terrible defeat and have to change strategy but you don’t give up.
You can change strategies as many times as you want but just don’t give up. And through persistence and learning the lesson from the defeats along the way, victory will ultimately be yours. As the saying goes; goals are in concrete, plans are in sand. The Allies suffered some brutal defeats during World War Two but ultimately they won the war. They kept learning from their defeats and then put the lessons in to practice for their next move. Through persistence and courage and faith, you can lose the battle and still win the war, as long as you learn the lessons and persist.
