Persistence is key to success because it is the single most common quality of high achievers.
They simply refuse to give up. The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. No matter how hard it seems, high achievers are never afraid of failure, the longer you persist the more likely your success.
If you’re looking to learn the importance of persistence, then this blog is for you. This is an informative article that explains why persistence is key to success and why you must develop the ability to persist in order to achieve your dreams.
#1. Being Persistent Matters Because It’s Not Always Going to Be Easy.
Sometimes you are going to have to persist in the face of obstacles—unseen obstacles—that no amount of planning or forethought could have predicted.
Sometimes, you’ll encounter what seem like overwhelming odds. And sometimes, the universe will test your commitment to the goal you’re pursuing.
The going may be hard, requiring you to refuse to give up while you learn new lessons, develop new parts of yourself, and make difficult decisions.
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed.
B.C. FORBES - Founder of Forbes magazine
They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
Hugh Panero, chief executive at XM Satellite Radio, is an example of amazing commitment and perseverance in the corporate sector.
After 2 years recruiting investors ranging from General Motors and Hughes Electronics to DIRECTV and Clear Channel Communications, Panero’s dream of becoming the world’s largest subscription radio service nearly collapsed at the last minute when investors threatened to back out if an acceptable deal wasn’t struck by midnight, June 6, 2001.
After exhausting negotiations and shuttle diplomacy, Panero and his chairman of the board, Gary Parsons, secured commitments of $225 million just minutes before the deadline.
Less than a year later, the launch of one of XM’s $200 million satellites was aborted just 11 seconds before liftoff when an engineer misread a message on his computer screen, forcing the company to wait for the next available launch date 2 months later!
Still, Panero persevered and finally scheduled the debut of XM Radio’s 101 channels of programming for September 12, 2001.
But when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11—just a day prior to the scheduled debut—Panero was forced to cancel the satellite’s launch party and pull XM’s inaugural TV ad featuring a rap star rocketing past a group of towering skyscrapers.
Panero’s team urged him to postpone the company’s launch for another year. Yet in the end, Panero held fast to his dream and debuted the service just 2 weeks later.
Today, through all the setbacks and delays, most of which make our own daily difficulties pale by comparison, XM dominates the satellite radio business with more than 1.7 million subscribers paying every month to enjoy 68 channels of commercial-free music plus 33 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children’s and entertainment programming, and traffic and weather information.
And stock prices have risen from the original price of $12 to $25 a share.
This shows the importance of persistence and why persistence is key to success.
#2. Terry Fox Story on Importance of Persistence.
Having lost his right leg to cancer, Terry Fox embarked on a cross-Canada run called the Marathon of Hope in 1980 to raise money for cancer research.
His shuffle-and-hop running style took him about 24 miles per day—close to a complete 26-mile marathon every single day—with an artificial leg!
He managed to run for 143 days and covered 3,339 miles from his starting point in St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he was forced to abandon his run when doctors discovered cancer in his lungs.
He died a few months later, but his inspiring example has left a legacy: Annual Terry Fox runs are held in Canada and around the world that so far have raised $340 million for cancer research.
When asked how he kept himself going as exhaustion set in and he had thousands of miles ahead of him, he answered, “I just keep running to the next telephone pole.”
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#3. Debbie Macomber Story Shows Why Persistence is Key to Success.
When Debbie Macomber decided to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, she rented a typewriter, put it on the kitchen table, and began typing each morning after the kids went off to school.
When the kids came home, she moved the typewriter and made them dinner. When they went to bed, she moved it back and typed some more.
For 2½ years, Debbie followed this routine. Supermom had become a struggling writer, and she was loving every minute of it.
One night, however, her husband, Wayne, sat her down and said, “Honey, I’m sorry, but you’re not bringing in any income. We can’t do this anymore. We can’t survive on just what I make.”
That night, her heart broken and her mind too busy to let her sleep, she stared at the ceiling in their darkened bedroom.
Debbie knew—with all the responsibilities of keeping up a house and taking four kids to sports, church, and scouts—that working 40 hours a week would leave her no time to write.
Sensing her despair, her husband woke up and asked, “What’s wrong?” “I really think I could’ve made it as a writer. I really do.” Wayne was silent for a long time, then sat up, turned on the light, and said, “All right, honey, go for it.”
So Debbie returned to her dream and her typewriter on the kitchen table, pounding out page after page for another 2½ years.
Her family went without vacations, pinched pennies, and wore hand-me downs. But the sacrifice and the persistence finally paid off.
After 5 years of struggle and persistent effort Debbie sold her first book. Then another. And another. Until finally, today, Debbie has published more than 100 books, many of which have become New York Times best-sellers and 3 of which have sold for movies.
Over 60 million copies of her books are in print, and she has millions of loyal fans. And Wayne? All that sacrifice in support of his wife paid off handsomely.
He got to retire at age 50 and now spends his time building an airplane in the basement of their 7,000-square-foot mansion.
Debbie’s kids got a gift far more important than a few summer camps.
As adults, they realize what Debbie gave them was far more important—permission and encouragement to pursue their own dreams.
Today, Debbie still has dreams she wants to fulfill—a television series based on her books, an Emmy Award, a number-one New York Times best seller.
To accomplish them, she has a routine: She gets up every morning at 4:30, reads her Bible, and writes in her journal. By 6:00, she’s swimming laps in the pool. And by 7:30, she’s in her office answering mail.
She writes between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, producing three new books a year with discipline and perseverance. What could you accomplish if you were to follow your heart, practice this much daily discipline, and never give up?
That's the secret of high achievers, they know why persistence is key to success.
#4. Never Give up on Your Hopes and Dreams.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
CALVIN COOLIDGE - Thirtieth president of the United States.
The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Consider this if you want to understand the importance of persistence:
- Admiral Robert Peary attempted to reach the North Pole seven times before he made it on try number eight.
- In its first 28 attempts to send rockets into space, NASA had 20 failures.
- Oscar Hammerstein had five flop shows that lasted less than a combined total of 6 weeks before Oklahoma! which ran for 269 weeks and grossed $7 million.
- Tawni O’Dell’s career as a writer is a testament to her perseverance. After 13 years, she had written six unpublished novels and collected 300 rejection slips. Finally, her first novel, Back Roads, was published in January 2000.
- Oprah Winfrey chose her book for the Oprah Book Club, and the newly anointed novel rose to number two on the New York Times Best-Seller List, where it remained for 8 weeks.
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#5. Never, Never, Never Give up - Be Persistent to Achieve Your Dreams.
During the Vietnam War, Texas computer billionaire H. Ross Perot decided he would give a Christmas present to every American prisoner of war in Vietnam.
According to David Frost, who tells the story, Perot had thousands of packages wrapped and prepared for shipping.
He chartered a fleet of Boeing 707s to deliver them to Hanoi, but the war was at its height, and the Hanoi government said it would refuse to cooperate.
No charity was possible, officials explained, while American bombers were devastating Vietnamese villages. Perot offered to hire an American construction firm to help rebuild what Americans had knocked down.
The government still wouldn’t cooperate. Christmas drew near, and the packages were unsent.
Refusing to give up, Perot finally took off in his chartered fleet and flew to Moscow, where his aides mailed the packages, one at a time, at the Moscow central post office. They were delivered intact.
Can you now see why this man became the great success that he did? He simply refused to ever quit.
#6. Hang in There Do Not Quit.
It’s always too soon to quit! - NORMAN VINCENT PEALE.
If you hang in there long enough, you will eventually reach your goal.
Consider the career of major league baseball player Pat Tabler. Pat played 7 seasons in the minor leagues and 10 full seasons in the major leagues.
He played in one World Series and one all-star game. When you look at his stats, it doesn’t look like he was doing very well his first 7 years, but his earnings grew over the lifetime of his career because he persevered in the pursuit of his dream.
#7. How to Deal with Obstacles By Being Persistent.
For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour - MARY KAY ASH.
Whenever you confront an obstacle or run into a roadblock, you need to stop and brainstorm various ways to get around, over, or through the block.
For every obstacle, come up with different strategies for handling the potential obstacle.
There are any number of ways that will work, but you will find them only if you spend time looking for them. Always be solution-oriented in your thinking. Persevere until you find a way that works.
