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.

 

How to be Purposeful

“Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.” --Washington Irving

Purposefulness is all about staying focused and determined to achieve your goals. It builds desire and provides the reason to continue to strive until some achievement is made. Without a purpose, we all drift through life and end up as failures. Drifting through life is certainly not one of God’s intentions for creation. This is why everything in the universe has a purpose and a place in a meticulously arranged order.

Napoleon Hill, in his best-selling book, “Think and Grow Rich” tells the story of the great Chicago fire which once consumed all the stores in the business district of the city. A group of Merchants among them Marshall Field assembled in the streets the morning after watching the smoking ruins of what had been their stores. Emergency meetings and conferences were hurriedly convened. The big question was whether to rebuild or to move to safer locations? The Merchants quickly reached a decision. All except Marshall Field decided to leave Chicago. Mr. Field pointed a finger at the ruins where his store once stood and declared, “Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the world’s greatest store, no matter how many times it may burn down.” That was many years ago and today the Field Stores edifice stands as a prominent land-mark in the skyline of Chicago.