“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.
