Perseverance Pays Off
by Daryl Daughtry, Publisher
Please don’t quit. Keep trying because perseverance pays off.
Whatever you are trying to accomplish, I can guarantee that you will fail, if you quit. I can also guarantee that it will always have a chance to succeed, if you don’t stop trying. If you keep trying at something, then you can never really fail. Failure only happens when you give up. Otherwise, all that’s really happened is that you’ve had a set-back and you can learn from it.
Obstacles and setbacks can be a learning opportunity. It’s not success that makes you learn, get stronger, or even get better; it’s what you learn in the struggle along the way.
Randy Pausch, who was dying at the time, said, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
Obstacles and setbacks are inevitable. How you deal with them is optional and totally up to you. You can get upset and throw in the towel or you can expect that there will be setbacks and obstacles and you can accept them as part of the process.
Perseverance comes from getting knocked down and getting right back up. You have to change your relationship with adversity. You have to see it as normal. Your vision or goal isn’t being judged or singled out. Actually, it’s typically the path you’re taking to your vision or goal needs adjusting or tweaking. It’s when you need to call on the “double A’s” – adapt and adjust.
– The Beatles were told that guitar music was on its way out. They didn’t quit.
– Walt Disney was told that he lacked imagination by an employer. He didn’t quit.
– Thomas Edison made over 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at creating a light bulb. He didn’t quit.
– Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and failed at his first business. He didn’t quit.
– Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team. He didn’t quit.
– Oprah Winfrey was told that she was unfit for television. She didn’t quit.
– Steven Spielberg was rejected 3 times from theatre and film school. He didn’t quit.
– Soichiro Honda was turned down for a job at Toyota. He didn’t quit. He turned around and started Honda.
Those folks persevered. They picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and kept on truckin’. Their inner drive and self-belief was stronger than their excuses. When something rejected or resisted them, they pushed back. Oh, and those people in history who did quit, we don’t know their names. Do we?
Often, it’s not even the most talented people who succeed. It’s the ones with the most grit and endurance. It’s the ones who divide their journey into smaller segments. It’s the ones who assemble a support system. It’s the ones who remember their “why” and keep their eyes on the prize.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives once said, “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
You can do practically anything you set your mind to, but it takes action and facing your personal fears. It also takes facing and accepting setbacks, even expecting them. Perseverance is the opposite of quitting. Perseverance always focuses on the positive benefits of achieving your goal. It also focused on the negative effects of not succeeding.
So, when the going gets tough, will you keep going?
