Persistence is the Key to Success
By Jandi Theis
If persistence is the key to success, what do you do when you’ve been working so hard for so long and it still seems like you are never going to reach your goal?
What do you do when you don’t think you’re going to make your goal… when it’s looking like you might fail? You try just one more time. Give it one more shot and then, if you need to… one more.
When everyone around you is telling you that it isn’t going to work, just try one more time. When everything seems to be against you, just take one more step.
You might need to change your strategy or your plan, but that doesn’t mean you have to change your goal. If what you’re doing isn’t working, change it. Don’t give up on your goal. Just be flexible and experiment to see what works best to get you where you want to go.
Being persistent in going after your goal does not mean you have to be persistent about the methods you take to get to your goal. Figure out what is working and what isn’t working… stop doing what doesn’t work & do more of what does work.
Look at your plan. Try something new if you need to… If Plan A isn’t working, move on to Plan B. If Plan B isn’t working, move on to Plan C… Make the changes that you need to make in order to achieve your goal.
If you want to be successful, you need to be persistent and hold onto your dreams. Every once in a while, you may need to re-evaluate your plan to see if the actions you are taking are getting you closer to your goals. If they are, that is great! Keep on going! If you feel like you are getting stuck or slowing down, make some changes.
Big, meaningful achievements don't just happen when everything goes your way. Sometimes, you need to try another way. If you didn’t reach your goal on your first try, then try something different – there isn’t anything wrong with taking a different path. You can do this. You can get where you want to go… just try one more time, even if you have to try something different… do it one more time.
Think about all the time & energy you’ve already put in. Think about how far you’ve come. Don’t quit now. Just keep on going. Persistence is the key to success!
Live Well! Be Well!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Another way of looking at it is this, Jandi: What if you're discouraged because you're making some progress but still not reaching your goal? Well, you may have failed to break the journey down into small enough tasks so you can feel the accomplishment as you complete each step along the way. So what looks like failure is really just "not yet there."
That is so true, Sharon. Sometimes it’s much easier to see our accomplishments when we look at the individual steps along the way instead of the whole picture — for example, instead of thinking about the 50 lbs that haven’t been lost yet, think about the 15 lbs that have and go from there. I like the idea of “just not there”. Thanks for sharing, Sharon!
Hi Jandi…Great article…Persistence and flexibility certainly are important to achieving success! …Thanks for sharing, Hughie
Love that quote…and your message. So often we have a plan and a plan B but who says we can't have plan c,d or e!!! Great article!