Persistence is a key attribute of success. Persistence often can help over come disadvantage, lack of education, lack of knowledge, lack of skill, and many other apparent ingredients that foretel success. Persistence wins because it is steady, unrelenting and won't give up. Those who are persistent eventually win because they defeat or overcome all obstacles and usually do so as those less than persistent souls fade and fall from the race. The fable of the Tortoise and the Haare is a common picture of how slow but steady persistence can win over flash and flame. But other things happen when one is proceeding persistently toward his goal............connections are made, knowledge is built, the persistent competitor learns and understands his competition. He learns and understands his customer better. He gains confidence in his ability to endure. Cal Ripkin Jr. is an example of a baseball player who achieved many records and was voted into the baseball Hall of Fame because of his edurance and persistence. A famous quote by Winston Churchill during World War II in which he expressed his ferocious drive to beat back the Germans was "Never, Never, Never, ever Give Up!". Those who persist less or who give up never know if success was just around the corner. There are countless stories of men who achieve success at the tail end of countless tries. It is reported that Thomas Edison counted 2,000 failures before reaching the moment when his incandecent light bulb came to life. No matter what your strength or weakness, your skill level or knowledge, aim for your goals and persist, persist, persist and you will achieve.
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Although I am in general agreement with you here on these musing about persistence, I feel compelled to interject a caveat that exhibiting thoughtful persistence is more to the point. As has been my personal experience, being blindly persistent in a task does not insure its success. We must train ourselves – at the suggestion of Ayn Rand’s words – “to check our road and the nature of our battle”. Otherwise, we can let ourselves get lost in the act of persisting even if no results are forth coming. This requires acknowledging that the purpose of persistence is to reach our goals. I could be described as a supremely persistent person. It is the twin sister of my faithfulness. However, despite my dogged persistence, I could not make a situation resolve to my desired outcome. More painfully, I wore my persistence as my badge of honor and clung to it as a cloak which warmed me. I would have been better served by questioning the wisdom of continuing to pursue this goal. Perhaps this sentiment is best expressed with the serenity prayer and the idea of accepting what we can and cannot change. To that end, I now think more deeply about what I give my persistent efforts to and check my road at intervals to view my progress. One has a greater chance of success if we make intelligent choices about where we channel our energies.
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