Persevere – Never, never, never, never give up!

Cresits: Motivational Twist

“By perseverance the snail reached the ark”.           Charles Spurgeon

“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling”.            Lucretius

All of us have our goals in life, which we tend to follow everyday.Some achieve them early, while some carry on, but the road seems to get longer than desired.Why is it that for some dreams are easy to build and for some, it takes up all their lives despite hard work?The difference is PRESEVERANCE.

“Everything that I’ve ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance”.    

                                                                       Scott Hamilton

Perseverance means persistance, being steadfast in the pursuit of some aim or purpose.If a purpose is proceeded without consistancy, it can never be achieved.An athelete taking part in a maraton if slows down in the middle, it becomes difficult for him/her to cover the deficit.Every ambition has a timeframe to accomplish in, if we run out of time,sometimes the destination drifts so much farther that then it almost becomes immpossible to achieve it.
“Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours”. Orison Swett Marden
Recently, i have come across a beautiful inspirational book, which i have started reading. “Unstoppable: 45 Powerful Stories of Perseverance and Triumph from People Just Like You” by Cynthia Kersey – I highly recommend it.

Credit:unstoppable.net

“Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits”.      

Robert Brault

In this book, she states 7 characteristics of Unstoppable people, and has dedicated one chapter exclusively to describe each in detail.She has described them as follows:

*Devote themselves to their true purpose.
*Follow their heart’s passion.
*Believe in themselves and their ideas.
*Prepare for challenges.
*Ask for help and build a support team.
*Seek creative solutions.
* Persevere, no matter what the challenges.

According to Cynthia, for preseverance, it is firstly important to focus on your goal, some of us loose our focus in the middle, or our focus is diverted, due to which we lag behind in achieving it.Next, she says that whenever in the middle of followings our ambitions,we meet failures, we need to accept them first, and learn experience from them.We should remember that life’s happenings are rewarding, whether good or bad.And finally, We need to have patience to move towards our destination.We will meet many obstacles, many tragedies might surrounf us, but our vision of our goal should beclear even within mishaps and problems.If our desired target becomes our long-term goal, then we will surely achieve it, because in the background, we will continue to work on it, will believe in it, and then ultimately with this preseverance, will acquire it too.

“Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority”.          Vince Lombardi

Credits:Brainyquote.com

She mentions story of a man, who at early age could notcomplete his studies due to various illnesses, later he started doing a salesmans job, with his wife filling his sales forms at night.While raising his family, he couldn’t read to his sons or the signposts on the road, and then he realized he lacked an important thing in his life.He decided to acquire education.His wife helped him,and educated him at home every night.He met much failures while on the path toknwledge, but he didn’t stop.Ultimately the day came when his preseverance paid back, he not only gained knowledge but went on to establish himself as a successful businessman, owner of the chain of Casa Ole’ restraunts.This man was Tom Harken.

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance”.             Samuel Johnson

So preseverence is very important.Many things around us exhibit it, but usually we don’t pause to look around to see it.The woodpecker is a bird known for its perseverance and determination.With its chiseled beak, it persistently digs through tree barks in hunt of insects, and never gives up until it succeeds.People living around the area a woodpecker is at work get fed up, while he’s all perked up to find food, working repeatedly till he succeeds.

“If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius”.             Joseph Addison

Another good example is the Aesop’s Fables, VERY familiar ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’.It sums up that just like the slow, but presevered, determined, hopeful, and hard-working torotise defeated the strong, fast hare with his determination and preseverance, we can achieve anything if we are steadfast and ambitious.Nothing is impossible.If you are moving slowly towards your objectives, but you are consistent and maintain continuity, you might reach the a bit late, but you will definately see the world from the top!

The Tortoise and the Hare (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody”.          Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Life is an amalgamation of high’s and lo’s but only those who have the strength to swim against the current, without getting exhausted, or getting weary and dejected emerge successful.Many have started from scratch to capture success, they are an example which shows that they made it through persistance and preseverance, or else the hardships they faced in their lives could have made them give up, but they presevered and are unexceptionally accomplished now.

“Saints are sinners who kept on going”.              Robert Louis Stevenson

One such example is of Soichiro Honda, owner of the Honda Motor Company Ltd, based in Japan.Soichiro’s father was a blacksmith, and he used to assist him in his bicycle repair business.Later he became an automobile mechanic, and started working at a local automobile workshop in Tokyo.

“Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock”.              Unknown

Source:MotorTrend.com

He gained financial assistance to develop piston rings, and obtained a contract to supply them to Toyota.When handing over the supply,it was rejected because of quality standards.Later, he visited various factories to understand the standardization and quality management procedures, and later his contract was finally approved by Toyota.

“There are two ways of attaining an important end, force and perseverance; the silent power of the latter grows irresistible with time”.                 Sophie Swetchine

Honda Automobile Company was ranked 45th out of Global Top 500 companies in the year 2011.He is known as the Henry Ford of Japan.He was a self-made, hard working, sound, able and presevered man.

“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain”.                 Unknown

If we lack preseverance, there surely has to be a way to inject it in us.Here’s how:

*Write your goals on a big piece of paper or cardboard, and stick it to the wall in your room, which you gaze upon first thing in the morning.Secondly, place a card in your car, which reminds you you need to start and end everyday chasing your dreams to achieve them.

*Keep on raising motivation within you.Say a few motivaltional lines out loud to you whenever you are free and in peace.Or whenever you feel you are getting down and hitting the ground, being despondent,say a few lines to yourself like:

“Nothing is unattainable.I have every potential, and every drop of sweat and blood to achieve my dreams in the most honorable, positive manner and i will surely not stop, in the way.Destination is my destiny.God is with me, i have nothing to fear, no obstacle to scare.In the end, it is just me and success.”

Credits:motivational twist

*Look around for gaining perseverance from those who are already following it to achieve success.Gain the lessons of preseverance from nature.

*Don’t consider each day as a leap to success.Gain momentum, do odd jobs, those considered meager in our societies, because they temporarily seem a long way to our summit, but which are infact the true stepping stones,which will not only bring us closer, but develop patience and teach the essential and valuable lessons of life.

“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves”. Dale Carnegie

*Quote, unquote:”Aim high, there’s no virtue in easy victory”.

*Follow your heart and mind,norms and practices, morals and values, instincts and gut feelings.In short, don’t go beyond the limits illegally, but legally.There are no shortcuts, no wrong path can lead to a right one.

Credits:Motivational Twist

*Belive most of all in your dreams and ambitions, then your talents and efforts – Don’t ever listen to the world, if they make you miserable or if they try to become a pain in the neck.

*But BE REALISTIC.Judge your efforts and struggles as well as your talents realistically.Don’t let the world judge you, judge yourself!

*In the end, do the best, and leave the rest to God.He will guide your efforts to your destination if you were sincere with your dreams, yourself, and God Himself!

“Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there”.                Josh Billings