Lack of persistence is probably one of the greatest causes of failure. You may be talented but if you are not persistent enough to use what you’ve learned you are setting yourself up for failure. Good Luck is with those who persevere. Success is with those who are willing to fight. You have to make an effort in order to reap a harvest; you can’t just expect the fruit to fall into your lap. But, if persistence is not one of your virtues don’t worry, because I will show you how to be steadfast in your commitment to succeed.
1. Persistence can be learned
Persistence is a skill, and you can improve this skill just with practice. So, if you put effort into improving it you will eventually become a persistent person.
2. You need a defined purpose
You need a purpose to work toward, you need a goal in sight. If you are putting effort every day on being persistent you have to know what you want to achieve. Every task has to be focused on your main goal. Your mind needs direction, clarity and focus in order to get the work done. Besides, thinking about your goal you can gain extra motivation. Imagine yourself achieving the goal. Visualize, and think about how you would feel after achieving it. With this simple exercise you will fill your soul with new energy to work hard for what you want.
3. You need to get and to stay motivated
If you are not motivated you will eventually give up. Here my 3 favorite tips to get and stay motivated:
- Think about the reward you will get: When you feel like quitting you have to visualize yourself achieving the goal and being rewarded for it. Thinking about the rewards of attaining your goals will motivate you to work steadily toward them.
- You need passion: Implementing the action habit and becoming a persistent person is hard work. You will have to put a lot of effort to acquire this habit. You have to work every single day even when you are not in the right mood. So, if you want to develop persistence you need to be motivated. The best way to be motivated is doing what you really love. When you do what you love you have passion for something and hard work becomes easier. You need a goal that inspires you because when you are motivated you don’t mind to take action.
- Be inspired by other people’s stories: When you have a lack of motivation you can see what successful people is doing or what they did. Some interesting people with inspiring life stories: Beethoven, William Kamkwamba, Gary Vaynerchuk, Socrates, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Alexander the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and a long etc. There are hundreds of people with inspirational stories that can help you to stay motivated. You just have to choose one or some of them, think about what they did, and get inspired. If you are a blogger and you need an extra push to stay motivated, see what James Rich is doing on his blog.
4. You need a strategy or a plan
You need to design an effective strategy to achieve your goal. If you want to develop persistence you have to know what steps you have to take to achieve your objective. Why? Because when you have a clear direction your brain works faster and better; if your brain works well you will finish your task sooner, with less effort and with a better result, and then you will get rewarded for your productive work.
5. Don’t bang your head against the wall – Be flexible
But, if your strategy or method proves to be unsuccessful change it and try another approach to the problem. Why? Because if you are being unproductive, if you don’t get satisfactory results for your effort, you will get discouraged and you will give up. So, be flexible and don’t get stuck with an unproductive method. Keep trying new things until you finally succeed.
“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.”–Thomas Carlyle.
I will publish “How to Develop Persistence (Part II)” in the following days.
Stay tuned 🙂
Written by: David Cantone
My Twitter: @DavidCantone
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Now, I’m looking to you for some wisdom:
Use the comments section of this post as a forum to post your own experiences, opinions and thoughts on this subject.
Share your thoughts & ideas and enjoy what others share with you 🙂
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Oscar - freestyle mind
// Dec 4, 2009 at 6:29 am
Hey David, I believe persistence is everything. For me I just have a list of very small things I have to do every day. It takes me a bit of time each day but doing them keeps everything moving.
.-= Oscar – freestyle mind´s last blog ..10,000 Euros/Month November Update =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 4, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Yes, task lists are an effective way to organize your life and your mind. Besides, knowing what to do at any given moment helps us to develop perseverance.
Thanks Oscar for your contribution.
Tim | InspirationPro.net
// Dec 4, 2009 at 7:02 am
Very well said, David. No one will every be persistent in anything unless they love what they are doing or the act itself seems absolutely necessary.
.-= Tim | InspirationPro.net´s last blog ..9 Powerful Techniques for Persuading People =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 4, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Yes, if we don’t have passion for what we do and if we don’t get satisfactory results we will eventually give up. And the opposite, if we love what we do we have passion, and if we have passion even if the results aren’t as good as we expected we keep working and don’t give up.
Thanks for your comment 🙂
See you Tim.
Johnluffa
// Dec 4, 2009 at 9:36 am
Thanks for sharing this – This is so true, you really have to want it in order to succeed.
That personal conviction is always a good starting point.
.-= Johnluffa´s last blog ..Personal Networking Can Benefit Your Blog [Part 2] =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 5, 2009 at 11:00 am
Yes, conviction, determination and hard work.
Thanks for your comment John 🙂
Walter
// Dec 4, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Persistence has been a neglected principle in our present time. Most people want instant result and they hate to wait. However, for those who understand this powerful skills, success comes easily. 🙂
.-= Walter´s last blog ..Success eludes mediocrity =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 4, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I don’t believe in instant results, it’s just a market technique to sell more books.
Well, I don’t know if success comes easy but what I’m sure is that if we are not persistent on what we do there is no chance to succeed.
Thanks Walter for your contribution.
Isaac | GoBlogger
// Dec 5, 2009 at 2:26 am
Good one David! It reminds me of my old blogging motto “The keys of blogging success are learning, hard working, and persistence”. Nostalgic.
.-= Isaac | GoBlogger´s last blog ..Check Out My New Pagerank =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 5, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hi Isaac,
This is a good motto, but why do you say “my old motto”?
Thanks Isaac for your comment and welcome back to the blogosphere 🙂
See you buddy
Isaac | GoBlogger
// Dec 7, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Because I always mention it before I paused blogging hahaha but now I’m still using it anyway 😉
Thanks David.
.-= Isaac | GoBlogger´s last blog ..How to be a Persistent Blogger =-.
Jonny | thelifething.com
// Dec 5, 2009 at 5:15 am
Banging your head against the wall also hurts a great deal.
.-= Jonny | thelifething.com´s last blog ..3 Months In The Life Of A Travelling Entrepreneur =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 5, 2009 at 10:29 am
Hi Jonny,
Yes. When we get stuck we have to change our approach to the problem if we want to get satisfactory results. Sometimes people misunderstand the meaning of persistence. Persistence is not to be stubborn or obstinate about an unproductive strategy. Persistence, as I said above, is to be flexible.
Thanks Jonny for your comment 🙂
Anthony Feint
// Dec 5, 2009 at 11:39 am
My trick when it comes to persistence I write a list of things I want to do the previous night. Planning out the following day seems to work
.-= Anthony Feint´s last blog ..How to Finish What You Restart =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 5, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hi Anthony and welcome to ilcantone.com 🙂
Yes, absolutely. That helps a lot to be productive and persistent because keep you focused on what’s really important.
Thanks Anthony for your comment.
See you.
18 Blog Posts You Should Read This Weekend | Internethow Blog // Dec 5, 2009 at 3:05 pm
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Jim Hardin
// Dec 6, 2009 at 4:42 am
You do need to stay motivated and keep yourself going. At times it can be hard. I was doing something for a while and didn’t see results and from this I became unmotivated. Like why am I doing this I am getting nothing out of it. But that is where the passion came in and I knew if I was persistant I would get results.
Sometimes you hit road blocks and you just need to push yourself through them.
.-= Jim Hardin´s last blog ..Twelve Pains of Blogging =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hi Jim,
Yes, absolutely, sometimes it’s hard but results come with hard work and consistency. Motivation is essential for success.
Thanks for your comment.
See you Jim 🙂
TheInfoPreneur
// Dec 6, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Hey David,
Thanks for the mention! Really good point about drawing from your own inspiration.
Fancy doing a guest post for me?
James Richmond
.-= TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..Readers Are For Life, Not Just For Christmas =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 6, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Hi James and welcome to ilcantone.com 🙂
It’s been a pleasure to link to your blog. You are doing a great work buddy, keep working like this and you will get very far.
See you James.
King Sidharth
// Dec 6, 2009 at 6:02 pm
This was so required to be read by me. Really persistence makes all the difference. I loved the 5th point especially. Being flexible is very important as it is persistence not resistance.
Stumbled!!!
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..10 Most Inspiring People to Follow on Twitter =-.
David | ilcantone.com
// Dec 6, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Hi King,
What a great phrase: “it is persistence not resistence” 🙂 Agree.
Thanks for your contribution and for sharing the post on Stumble Upon.
King Sidharth
// Dec 6, 2009 at 8:48 pm
You are welcome David! In fact, I should be thanking you for writing an awesome post!
I’m lucky to have an inspiring friend like you.
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..10 Most Inspiring People to Follow on Twitter =-.
Ben Lumley
// Dec 22, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Persitance is definately a key to success.
Success doesn’t come on a nice silver platter, it takes time and hard work. It’s also pretty rare to crack success first time out if the box, if you can manage that then power to you but sadly the rest of us have to work at it and keep going even in the face of constant failure.
Great post David – thanks for sharing
.-= Ben Lumley´s last blog ..Yoda was in to Personal development: 6 Life Lessons from a Jedi Master =-.
Dan Black
// Apr 10, 2010 at 6:39 am
first of all great post.
I think persistence should be developed in every leader who wants to be successful. its a daily habit every leader needs to have.
.-= Dan Black´s last blog ..Leading With Encouragement =-.