The success principles w.., p.16
The Success Principles Workbook, page 16
First person: Whom will you ask?
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When will you ask her or him?
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Second person: Whom will you ask?
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When will you ask her or him?
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Third person: Whom will you ask?
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When will you ask her or him?
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Action Plan Based on Your Feedback
Now that you have obtained feedback from several sources, answer the questions below to consolidate what you have learned and to make a plan for your continued success.
What are the major points that you heard?
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What are your thoughts about what you heard? How do you feel about the feedback?
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What actions will you take based on the feedback you received? (Notice that this is the point of asking for feedback: to learn from it and then to do something different in the future as a result.)
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MAKE-IT-A-HABIT WORKSHEET
Make Time to Solicit Feedback
Take out your calendar and schedule a time this week to complete the exercises in this chapter. Make sure to do this now, before moving on.
Add to Your Life Success Journal
Turn to Your Life Success Journal and complete the exercise for this chapter.
Chapter
11
Practice Persistence*
It’s always too soon to quit.
NORMAN VINCENT PEALE
Author of The Power of Positive Thinking
If there’s one quality that differentiates successful people more than anything else, it’s that they persist. They keep working toward their goal no matter what. They never quit. When faced with obstacles, they keep going, they keep trying new things, and they keep at it—until they reach their final goal.
The Google Dictionary defined persistence as “firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”
Practicing persistence means that you have to continue taking action toward your goal despite the challenges, difficulties, setbacks, or temporary failures you encounter along the way.
And the fact is, you will almost always face challenges.
They are part of the process of achieving anything worthwhile. Companies lose customers and market share, entrepreneurs run out of money, athletes get injured, manuscripts get rejected, actors don’t get the part they want, salespeople get turned down, checks bounce, equipment breaks down, necessary parts don’t arrive on time, and people you trust don’t keep their commitments. There will be times when you may feel discouraged, and you may even be tempted to quit. But to make sure you persevere and don’t quit, here are three things you can do to be prepared for those times when you feel like giving up.
Acknowledge and accept that having to deal with challenges, difficulties, setbacks, and failures is a natural part of the process.
Be ready and willing to respond to any challenges that arise and make any necessary corrections based on the feedback you receive.
Be prepared with a Plan B. Take time before you begin to think of all the obstacles that you might face, all the things that could go wrong, and all the challenges that could come up—then formulate a plan for how you will respond to each one, if they should occur.
If achieving everything you wanted were easy, you would already have everything you want. The truth is that when you pursue a goal that you’ve never achieved before, there’s a learning curve you must go through, and that usually means you’re going to have to step outside your comfort zone and do things you’ve never done before. Whether your Breakthrough Goal is to become wealthy, to reach your ideal weight, to start your own company, to renew your relationship with your spouse, to win a major award, or to break a world record, you need to acknowledge that it will take time and effort, as well as require you to do new things that you’re uncomfortable doing.
By applying the success principles you’re learning in this Workbook as you’re pursuing your goals, you’ll be making it as easy as possible to succeed. Despite that, however, you can expect obstacles and challenges along the way. It’s just the normal course of pursuing something new. These challenges may include external roadblocks—such as a lack of funding for your project, opposition from your partner or your parents, or difficulty finding competent employees. Or they might be internal obstacles such as a lack of experience, self-doubt, and fear.
Even when some part of you wants to say, “I quit!” you’ll need to continue in order to reach your goal. Here are some strategies that will help you persevere.
REWARD YOURSELF ALONG THE WAY
Break your larger goal into smaller milestones that need to be achieved, and reward yourself when you accomplish these subgoals. Take your spouse or a friend out for a special dinner, treat yourself to a massage, or take a day off to do something fun.
TO PERSIST, SEEK INSPIRATION
One way to keep yourself motivated to persist through the hard times is to surround yourself with inspirational quotes like these. (You can also find hundreds more on the Internet by searching “quotes on perseverance and persistence.”)
When you’re going through hell, keep moving.
Attributed to WINSTON CHURCHILL
Former Prime Minister of Great Britain
Energy and persistence conquer all things.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Attributed to CALVIN COOLIDGE
30th President of the United States of America
Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
BILL BRADLEY
Member of the NBA Hall of Fame
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
BILLIE JEAN KING
Former World #1 Professional Tennis Player
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
American Civil Rights Leader
Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failures along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
BARACK OBAMA
44th President of the United States of America
Perseverance is falling 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
JULIE ANDREWS
Academy Award-Winning Actress
The lesson that I have learned and follow all my life is that we should try and try and try again—but never give up!
RICHARD BRANSON
Founder of Virgin Airlines
It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
CONFUCIUS
Chinese Philosopher and Politician
Money grows on the tree of persistence.
JAPANESE PROVERB
READ INSPIRATIONAL BIOGRAPHIES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, AND STORIES
Another way to keep yourself motivated to persevere in the face of obstacles is to read the stories of people who have achieved great things by persevering against all odds. Here are some of my favorite books:
Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business by Barbara Corcoran
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
One biographical story about perseverance that inspires me is the story of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad.
Growing up in New York City, a place that doesn’t usually come to mind when one thinks of the birthplace of great swimmers, Diana had parents who were always able to find a pool for her. She especially loved swimming long distances. She just kept swimming and swimming, doing what she loved. When Diana was 26, she shocked everyone by swimming around the island of Manhattan—28 miles without stopping. She became famous for her endurance swims. And then she set an even bigger goal: to swim from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida—an astonishing 112 miles.
To get ready, she trained by doing 12-hour workouts of nonstop swimming, then 14-, 18-, 20-, and eventually 24-hour workouts. Imagine! She would swim for 24 hours straight!
Sports physiology studies have shown that in such marathon-type activities, one’s mental determination is a more critical factor than the physical energy and capabilities. From 1978 to 2012, Diana tried four times to make it from Cuba to Florida. Each time she “failed.”
When she was 64 years old (64!), she tried one more time to make the swim, all the way from Cuba to Key West. Finally, after 53 hours straight, fighting currents and jellyfish, she made it—112 statute miles, nonstop, setting a record.
Here, in her own words, is her advice to anyone pursuing a dream:
Find a way. Find your grit. There’s a place in you that you have gone before. It’s the source of your strength, and it’s the source that you called upon each time you accomplished something important to you. That is your greatest asset. That is the place you need to draw upon again. As you think about what is most important to you, that is the resource you’ll draw upon to make the new thing happen. It’s about finding your grit and your will. Find a way.
LISTEN TO MUSIC AND SONGS THAT UPLIFT AND INSPIRE YOU
Create a playlist of music, songs, and power anthems with music and lyrics that motivate you and pump you up. Play the songs on that playlist when you first get up in the morning, while you’re running or working out, and whenever you’re feeling like you need a boost to keep going. Here are a few suggestions:
“Chariots of Fire” by Vangelis (instrumental)
“Roar” by Katy Perry
“The Champion” by Carrie Underwood (featuring Ludacris)
“One Step at a Time” by Jordan Sparks
“We Are the Champions” by Queen
“Larger Than Life” by Backstreet Boys
“Brave Faith” and “If I Were Brave” by Jana Stanfield
“You Gotta Want It” by Roberta Gold
“Get on Your Feet” by Gloria Estefan
“Fame” by Irene Cara
“When You Believe” by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
“You Will Win” by Jekalyn Carr (Christian-themed lyrics)
“Born to Fly” by Sara Evans
“I’m Gonna Be Somebody” by Travis Tritt
WATCH INSPIRATIONAL AND MOTIVATIONAL MOVIES
Another great way to stay motivated and persevere when times are tough is to watch inspirational movies like
127 Hours
42
A Beautiful Mind
Billy Elliot
Cinderella Man
Cool Running
Gandhi
Hoop Dreams
Hoosiers
Hotel Rwanda
Invictus
How We Made Our Millions
Invincible
Joy
Miracle
Moneyball
Radio
Rocky
Remember the Titans
Rudy
Seabiscuit
Soul Surfer
Slumdog Millionaire
The Blind Side
The Rookie
Unbreakable
We Are Marshall
The Hundred-Foot Journey
The Shawshank Redemption
The Theory of Everything
The Pursuit of Happyness
You can watch trailers of all these movies on the Internet to see which ones appeal to you the most.
CONSIDER THIS
Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first two television jobs.
Academy Award–winner Steven Spielberg applied to the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, three times—and was rejected three times. He eventually went to California State University, Long Beach, where he later dropped out and decided to pursue a directing career without a degree.
When Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, was raising the money to open the first three stores, he talked to 242 banks and investors, and 217 said no before he raised the necessary funding needed to proceed.
Henry Ford went bankrupt five times before he finally succeeded with the Ford Motor Company.
Before Harlan Sanders became famous as Colonel Sanders, he tried to sell his fried chicken recipe to 1,009 restaurants before finding a buyer.
Thomas Edison “failed” more than 1,000 times before he successfully invented the electric lightbulb.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. He then went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland and eventually launched one of the most beloved brands in history.
Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, had his first book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street turned down by 27 publishers before his manuscript was accepted for publication. To date, 600 million Dr. Seuss books have been sold, with 11,000 Dr. Seuss books being sold every day of the year in the United States alone.
The movie Star Wars was rejected by every movie studio in Hollywood before 20th Century-Fox produced it. It went on to gross $775 million, becoming one of the highest–grossing movies in film history.
What could you accomplish if you were to follow your heart, practice daily persistence, and never give up?
DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT YOU:
Your Track Record of Persistence
Consider this: You wouldn’t be where you are today if you weren’t already somewhat good at persisting. You probably already have a track record of enduring and overcoming challenges throughout your life. Some of your accomplishments required extra effort, others took a long time, and others were scary to pursue—but you achieved them anyway.
Your list of these achievements no doubt includes the basics required in life, such as studying even when it was boring, running farther than you thought you could, going to your first job interview, and so many bigger things since then.
In the spaces below, list three of the most significant times you persisted in the face of obstacles and challenges before reaching your goal. Recall those times when the going got tough, but you got tougher, and you persisted and succeeded.
Example: Think of a time when you persisted and reached your goal.
A. What was the challenge?
I was in a new sales job, and it was tough for me to keep making sales calls when I wasn’t getting results.
B. What did you do to persevere?
I knew I had to succeed, so I asked my sales manager for more help on my calls until I learned the skills I needed. Because I kept at it, I got better with practice.
C. What did you achieve?
The second year I was named “Most Improved,” although this was a consolation prize, since I had done so poorly my first year. The fourth year, I became the #1 salesperson in the company and made almost twice as much money as I ever had before.
D. What did you learn from this experience?
I learned that if I don’t give up and I ask for help, I eventually succeed. I also learned that when I persevere and win, my self-esteem and self-confidence improve.
1. Think of a time when you persisted and reached your goal.
A. What was the challenge?
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B. What did you do to persevere?
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C. What did you achieve?
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D. What did you learn from this experience?
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