No Replacement for Perseverance

The more I learn the more appreciative I become in recognizing the control we have over the quality of our lives.  Perhaps, the most important factor in dictating our personal success is perseverance.  Over the past five years, much research has highlighted perseverance as the single most important indicator in determining life success.  

Below are some of my favorite examples of those who have been rewarded for their perseverance.  Without knowing their story one may believe that luck and skill were the primary factors in their success.  Digging deeper we realize that blood, sweat, and tears were critical components in enabling their incredible breakthroughs:

• Colonel Sanders went to more than 1,000 places trying to sell his chicken recipe before he found an interested buyer.
• Thomas Edison tried almost 10,000 times before he succeeded in creating the electric light.
• The original business plan for what was to become Federal Express was given a failing grade on Fred Smith’s college exam.
• Sylvester Stallone had been turned down 1,000 times by agents and was down to his last $600 before he found a company that would produce Rocky.
• The poet Robert Frost had his first poetry submissions to The Atlantic Monthly returned as “unwanted”.
• Ray Kroc, the late founder of McDonald’s, knew this too. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence” he once said. “Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with great talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and love are omnipotent.”

If there is one attribute we should all strive to develop and improve it is our ability to persevere in the face of opposition, doubt, fear, and failure.  If we stay the course and persist in our chosen path we will be amazed with our progress.  We must remember that life is a marathon and not a sprint.  A marathon requires steady, consistent effort over an extended period of time and that is exactly how we should live our lives. Start your marathon today.