Continued from The Power P's of Enduring Success
Persistence
Nothing in life is more important than persistence when it comes to achieving one's goals. It's more important than education, skill, talent or money. Most people give up when things get really hard, when the end is still out of sight, and there's no sign of a breakthrough. If only they knew that just around the very next corner was the breakthough they were looking for. If they had known that, 90% would have had the strength to endure that little bit longer but because they can't see it, they despair, tire and allow themselves to lose focus.
Recently I've began regularly going to the gym and working out. One of the things I like best about it is that it's a very physical and easy to identify reminder of how to live life. If I want to gain muscle mass, then I have to continually push myself past the point where I want to give up. It's those last few reps, the ones you don't want to do, the ones your mind is telling you are too hard and should be skipped, that make the difference. It's not until your body is pushed beyond it's limit that it grows. This has to be exercised with reasonable precaution of course, injuring yourself isn't going to produce desired results but it's the mental game involved.
After a while you learn that it's at the point where your mind is telling you no, that you start getting excited, because that means you're now producing results. At least you will be if you don't listen to it and do a few more reps anyway. If I'm aching and sore after, I'm happy because I know I'll be liking what I see in the mirror, and in my girlfriend's eyes, the next day.
Success in any other area of life is pretty much the same story. Without the persistence to continue when you feel like your totally tapped out, you won't experience growth. Without growth, you're not going to be playing at the level needed to achieve.
How long do you need to endure beyond when you feel like given it all up? Surprisingly, usually not nearly as long as you'd think. The reason being, because so few people do. 95% of people get to that point and give up. So you only need to hold on a little longer than the 95% to achieve the type of results only the top 5% see.
Of course, you could be one of those early quitters, which means you will have a longer journey as you have to build up your mental muscles. The only way to do that is practise and repetition. Keep pushing yourself. The more often you push past your comfort level the broader your comfort level will become. You will keep breaking through to higher and higher levels until you achieve that success your looking for. And by looking for, I mean the one you're willing to settle for, not the one you may be envisioning. In the end the success we achieve is the success we are willing to achieve. You may want 25 million but when you arrive at 2.5 million, you may decide that's enough to make you happy and you don't really want to bust your ass enough to earn 22.5 million more. Or it may just whet your appetite for even greater goals. Either way, what's okay. Follow your bliss. Goals are there to serve you not torment you. Just don't give up and settle for less than what makes you truly happy.
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