#3: Be Persistent in Your Life!

(Picture created by alexindigo from Flickr)

1) What keeps you going in life? 

2) What drives you to stand back up after falling?

3) What makes you successful?

Answers:

1) Persistence.

2) Persistence.

3) Persistence.

Yes. You have to be persistent to succeed. You know, Thomas Edison failed more than 10,000 times before he created the light bulb. He persistently ran his experiments after every single "failure" until he succeeded at last! They should not even be considered failures, as he said, "I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Powerful, yet simple. Every single experiment brought Edison one step closer to success. After all, he only had to succeed ONCE. Just once. In fact, nobody even cares about how many failures he experienced, we only care about the fact that he invented the light bulb! And we still benefit tremendously from his invention until this very day.

So, the same goes for us. Once we set our mind on achieving something, we should just keep going even though we fail along the way. Every failure is a lesson that would bring us one step closer to success. Lack of persistence is a weakness among people who do not have a definite goal or desire. How can you win if you're not that into winning? 

I think this topic relates personally to my writing this blog. I have to be persistent in updating the blog and finding ways to drive more traffic so that I could reach out to more people about what I've learnt. It's not easy, but I enjoy the learning process. I've learnt so much about the technology and marketing behind blogging through this. More importantly, I've learnt so much more about the values that are really important to be shared among all the readers who take their time to read this blog and have the desire to improve themselves.

So how can we be persistent? Napoleon Hill said in his book, "Think and Grow Rich", there are 4 steps (I've rephrased them):

1) Have a definite purpose backed by burning desire for success

2) Have a definite plan

3) Have a mind closed against all negative influences, including those of family, friends, and acquaintances

4) Have a friendly alliance with others who will encourage one another

I believe No. 3 is worth discussing. It's true that we share our heart with our loved ones, and so naturally we would listen faithfully to what they tell us. And we really should. But sometimes, they might not be encouraging us to do what we really want to do, because they're afraid that we would fall and hurt ourselves - all good intentions. And we love them with all our hearts. 

However, we know better that no man will ever succeed without falling and learning all the painful lessons. As Delatorro McNeal said, "Life is gonna hand you pain...and pain's gonna do 1 or 2 things for you, it's either gonna make you bitter,or it's gonna make you better!" (You should go watch his short video here.) So, if we truly know that's what we want, just close our mind against all negative influences and follow our heart, and live it with the burning desire and passion.

Summary:

1) Be persistent until you succeed, remember Edison's brilliant words!

2) Practice the 4 steps by Napoleon Hill in everything you do. And live with your desire for success!

Stay tuned for the next post. You can subscribe through email or RSS to keep yourself updated! Well, have a fun and safe long weekend people!