We all strive to achieve success in our life either in a personal or a professional venture. Everybody embarks on this journey with high hope and energy. But we have to prepare sufficiently for this venture because the possibility of failing or disappointment will be following us till we reach our destination. The proper tools for success will keep us in the game till we reach our goal.
We all embark upon a new venture, a new business, a journey with a hope and dream to win success. Every one of us wants to achieve our goal and reach our destination with a sense of satisfaction. This dream venture is vital for our ego, and the success is essential for our mind, spirit and soul. All new endeavors carry a possibility of failure or discouragement along the path to our destination for some unknown circumstances. But We can learn the skill required to gain success as we reach towards our goal.
Perseverance and Persistence:
We have given many thoughts, invested our energy and after mustering up all the courage started our journey. As we hope to achieve a success in our venture, Persistent hard work and perseverance to reach, our goal will be ongoing. Everyone will strive to solve the difficulties and find the solutions to our problems. We know the undertaking of this task won’t be easy.The competition will be furious, and a task of achieving the success will be daunting. Experts with the skills for similar activities, success, will be easy to accomplish. The amateurs like us will have to work harder to reach the same conclusion.
To stay the course is our motto and Success is our goal.
Clouds of Discouragement:
After all these efforts, firm determination, and unrelenting labor, what if the goal to achieve that success keep evading us? What if the clouds of the disappointment and fear of a failure start to take hold?
How to deal with this fear?
We have determined at the beginning of the journey that we shouldn’t accept the defeat; we shouldn’t give up. We will stand tall and firm against the failure. Because it will be easy to quit if we fail. But the pain of leaving the task incomplete be unbearable.The reason is we may feel relieved if we quit, the stigma of failure will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It will be hard to dream again. Think, The triumph and a Defeat are like a day and night!
To accept the defeat means we lose! Though we started knowing that the path to success will be hard. But it was the journey we embarked upon to achieve success for our dream venture. As we walk accepting the defeat, it will create a phobia in our mind.The fear of failure will haunt us. Maybe it will scare us to dream again.
Listen what these Great leaders are telling us:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill
Can we imagine what the world would have been today if Thomas Alva Edison had accepted the defeat and quit his research to invent an electric bulb after first or second or 1000th or 5000th failures?! The world would have been in the dark without that Electric bulb today. But for the sake of humanity and his firm desire, he stood firm against the mounting failures. Was unwilling to accept the defeat, kept doing what he determined to do and at last he reached his goal. He invented that electric Bulb. One Man’s Courage and Perseverance dispersed the clouds of darkness and brought the brightness to the world for ever and ever!!
For his thousands of failed attempts, this is what he said:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas A. Edison
“Just because you fail once, doesn’t mean you’re gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don’t, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing, and there’s so much to smile about.”
Marilyn Monroe
So to accept the defeat is to give up our freedom to Dream. The day we all stop dreaming is the day we are as good as dead.
We pick up from where we stalled, revamp our strategy and use the experience we gained from our failure and persevere with all our heart till we succeed.
“Discouragement does not mean we are defeated! It is when we accept the defeat, the chance of victory fades.”
Perseverance Determines Success
When most of think about what it takes to become successful, we generally create a list that includes numerous traits and talents, skills and abilities. However, regardless of how skilled we are, how intelligent we may be, and even how well prepared we have positioned ourselves, unless we stick to it, and persist when others no longer do, we will dramatically reduce any chances of success. This consistence persistence is referred to as perseverance, and is one of the most essentially determining factors of what results we will eventually have. Thomas Foxwell Buxton stated, “With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” Perhaps the best explanation of the power of perseverance was relayed by the late General Robert Shira, who when asked about his many successes, continuously attributed them to outliving and outlasting his contemporaries. While merely being persistent never guarantees success, without perseverance, one almost certainly guarantees a less than successful outcome.
- This is especially important in leadership scenarios. In my over thirty years of closely working with well over a thousand individuals in positions of leadership, I do not remember any of them telling me that they did not want to be successful. Nearly all of them used all the right words and rhetoric that one would hope to hear from a new leader. However, the first indication that someone will be an effective leader is how they react to disappointments, mistakes, errors, misfortune, and things simply not going their way or as planned. The reactions fall into a few categories: a. some that immediately proceed to Plan B; b. some that use the failure as an excuse to try less, often saying that they gave it all they had and it just didn’t work out; and a few, c. that dig their heals in and approach the next phase with a positive can – do attitude, and proceed not only to Plan B, but have numerous contingency plans that they will take if needed. It is often simply when someone gives up, or conversely decides not to, that is the determining factor in their success.
- Our greatest inventors, and their most significant achievements and discoveries, did not simply happen on their first attempt. Much has been written about how many times Edison, Bell or Einstein, persevered and persisted after initially disappointing results. Abraham Lincoln could have given up after his numerous earlier political losses, but his perseverance led to his becoming perhaps the most significant President in the history of the United States.
Each of us will face disappointments throughout our careers and lives. However, our eventual results will be determined by our attitude and our persistence.
