Persistence Reaps Rewards
Persistence is a key trait of successful people. Because they stay committed to their vision, goals and dreams, they find a way to achieve them. The same applies to your personal goals. Here is a personal experience.
We planted a trumpet plant in our backyard. Our goal – to have a plant to complement our backyard. We were told this plant would flower once the roots set in and the plant branches had spread out across the wires we had suspended between the wooden beams of our veranda. The colour of the flowers of this plant was also a surprise, until it flowered.
We patiently nurtured and curiously waited for this plant to flower. Month after month, we nurtured this plant – took care of it like one of the family. Three years later, it rewarded us with one single flower – a beautiful yellow and purple striped flower. We finally reaped the rewards.
Challenges Happen
Those 3 years had challenges – the usual gardening ones (weather, pests, etc), time, other priorities (writing and publishing my book) plus other challenges – all of which made it difficult to give this plant the extra attention it needed. We were committed to this venture – we were committed to this plant, to our backyard goal, to ourselves.
Challenges are a part of business and life – because you are unable to control other people and situations around you, HOW you deal with them is the key. When challenges happen, we can give up or we can become even more determined and committed to achieving our vision/goal/strategy. (By the way, if you are less than 100% committed to your vision, goal or strategy at the outset, you are more likely to give up when challenges occur.)
I see too many professionals and business owners give up too soon. They begin a goal or strategy and abandon it too early, never to reap the rewards of their efforts. Sometimes, they even change their strategies too often rather than allow the time for them to fully work. This then negatively affects their confidence and self-belief.
My philosophy is simple – if you are going to do anything, do it 100% (with full commitment) so that at the end you can say you put in 100% and this is the best result that you could have achieved with 100% commitment and action. If you only put in 50% or 98%, you will never know what you could have achieved with 100% action, then you may even have regrets.
Stop Giving Up
One of the key beliefs in NLP is that everyone has enormous potential, yet many people sabotage themselves from reaching their full potential. What causes people to give up on their vision, dreams and goals? From working with thousands of people over the past 14 years, people who give up on their vision, dreams and goals share one thing in common – their fears and self-doubts sabotage their confidence and success.
For example: They fear failure, success and/or rejection. They worry too much about what other people think. They lack belief and confidence in themselves and their abilities. They entertain negative self talk and let it sabotage their action. They believe they are not good enough or not deserving of success, etc. Their fears and self-doubts also affect their commitment and motivation to take action, therefore, their persistence wanes.
Having persistence requires full commitment, consistent motivation and strong self-belief and confidence.
How will you show commitment to yourself today? How will you persist in the face of challenges? How will you and others reap the rewards of you achieving your vision, dreams and goals?
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