Why You Must Persist to Achieve

“You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance.” ~ Lee Iacocca

To achieve anything worthwhile in this world, you must have the staying power to see things through. That is persistence. There is nothing in this world that can substitute for persistence. Nothing can take its place when it comes to achieving set goals. Even if you are very talented, it is not enough. There are numerous unsuccessful people who are talented. Even if you think you are a genius, many unrewarded geniuses are walking around the streets in desperation. How about education? Well, being educated is OK but without the ability to persist in anything you are doing, you can’t make it. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. They are the main tools you need to get things done in our highly competitive and repressive world. 

Ask people who have attained some measure of success in the business and you’ll get to appreciate this relationship more. One of such successful persons is H. Ross Perot who wrote that "Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown." He should know because he was out there for quite a while. 

Get busy right now because…. “No pains, no gains. To get the prize, you must pay the price.”

Why Every Human Achievement First Begins as a Dream

“Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”-- Napoleon Hill

Every achievement of man began as a dream. The ranks of the rich are full of dreamers. What is it you desire most in life? Visualize yourself first as having what you desire and take steps to acquire it. Remember, if you want to be a millionaire, you must think and dream like a millionaire. All over the world, those who have made the most difference are those who started as dreamers. They dreamed and acted on their dreams and the world has never been the same again. Ironically, millions of Nigerians are in the poverty bracket because they have not managed to swim against the tide of life in the race to wealth. A dogged persistence to hold fast to your dreams is what separates those who make it rich and those who do not. Quitting when the first obstacle is encountered is the hallmark of the poor. Whereas the rich even if they encounter inevitable obstacles always manage to hold fast to their dreams and strive on till they overcome.

During the struggle for the independence of India, Mahatma Gandhi, the man whom the British press loved to call “half-naked fakir”, took on the British Empire through a campaign of non-violent civil-disobedience called “Ahimsa.” He dreamed of a free India devoid of colonial rule and held on fast to his dreams. Without a regular army, without any lethal weapons of war, he took on a well armed and organized opponent. Talk of the power of dreams! He mobilized the entire Indian population behind him and dared the British Empire. The British did everything to break his will but failed in all departments. They later did what became the most honorable thing to do by granting independence to India in 1947.

 “I have a dream.”  This was the famous speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. made on August 28, 1963 to an audience of more than 200,000 at Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. This is the speech that aroused American conscience and indeed the entire world. Dr. King followed closely Gandhi’s teachings and he too was able to confront the segregation laws of his country USA with well-organized Civil Rights marches. He was arrested and jailed several times with threats of death permanently trailing him. Before his unfortunate assassination in 1968, many American Public Institutions have been largely desegregated. That America is largely a free society today is attributable to the efforts of Dr. King and his fellow Civil Rights marchers who dreamed big dreams, held fast to their dreams and took steps to actualize them. When a dream is mixed with confidence, determination, persistence and faith, it will materialize. This is one of the secrets of money making.

How to be Tenacious

“Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite.”-- Robert Half

To persist is to “continue firmly or obstinately in an opinion or a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.” Persistence is what is loosely referred to in the business world as “being stubborn.” That is the ability to hang-in there in spite of everything. No one ever succeeds in making money without the perseverance to stick to the job. Even in paid employment, the ability to stay on the job is what makes the difference between the managers and those managed. Persistence is a state of mind and can therefore be developed and cultivated. Lack of persistence is the major reason why many people drop-out of school, why many people can’t hold down a single job, why many businesses fail and why many people fail to make it in life thereby ending up poor and destitute. There is nothing in life that is easy. What you put in is in direct proportion to what you get out of life.

The story is being told worldwide how in 1914, Mr. Thomas Edison one of the greatest inventors the world has ever seen lost his laboratory to fire. He was about 67 years old then, an age when most men are in effective retirement. This was the time he lost his laboratory to fire. Edison watched his lifetime efforts go up in smoke. Sympathizers asked him what he was going to do about the disaster. He replied them, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burnt-up. Thank God we can start anew.” In spite of this disaster, three weeks later, he invented the phonograph. A prolific inventor, Mr. Edison went on to receive about 1093 patents and a considerable fortune in his lifetime. When experimenting with perfecting the storage battery, he failed 24,999 times before he got it right. His tenacity was unequaled in his days.

 

Poverty Choices You Must Avoid

“If we are born poor, it is not our fault, but if we die poor, it is!”…… Bill Gates

Lack of Vision and Imagination sufficient to recognize favorable opportunities: People, who are unable to use their minds positively, stand little or no chance of escaping poverty. The mind is subject to control and manipulation by anyone. You can control your mind when you choose to. That you lack imagination or you are unable to visualize is absolutely your own making. All these can be handled with clear and concise thinking which your mind can do. The only person who can think for you is you. One of God’s greatest gifts to man is his mind. This is the only thing that separates him from beast. Imagination is literally the workshop of the mind where desire is given shape and positive action plan is formulated. If you are incapable of using your mind positively, you may not be able to make money.

Ill-Health: A healthy-mind in a healthy-body is a must for success and wealth creation. Health is a feeling of wellbeing. Anything you do that undermines your good health and wellbeing will push you to failure and poverty. When you have not developed a Positive Mental Attitude, you can’t rest or sleep, you indulge yourself in excessive eating and drinking, you are stressed-up, you do drugs and abuse other substances; you are certainly on the highway to poverty.

Lack of Persistence: If you have the habit of not sticking to the job and you quit at the slightest obstacle, you lack persistence. The basis of persistence is willpower. I have heard that “the will to win is more important than winning.” The will to win is built by persistent desire. If you lack persistence, you are incapable of any worthwhile achievement. The game of life has no stands for spectators. Everyone is an active player. Those who win and get rich are those who have the desire and persistence to win and be rich. It is a clear choice. If you can’t persist, you can hardly achieve any worthwhile venture that will enable you to make money.