On the Value of Perseverance

Note: This is an excerpt from Growth & Productivity: 14 Principles to Achieve More, a free e-book from Grove Ave, a new startup that helps individuals focus on their growth. Click here to get your free download of the 70+ page e-book.

Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to achieve even the modicum of productivity that I’m now able to muster? Years. None of these lessons came easy. One thing I hope is that my own experimentation and thinking helps you shorten the time it takes to achieve higher levels of productivity.

Which brings me to my last two and most important points. First, you are going to struggle. Everyone does. You’ll find yourself without the necessary discipline to continue, at times. But don’t give up. You’ll get there. You’ll find that slowly, you’re able to get more and more done. You’ll become attuned to the conditions that will set you up for success. And finally, you’ll break through and achieve optimal performance.

Second, as I wrote at the beginning of this e-book, just diving in and brute-forcing your way to success isn’t going to get you very far. In my opinion, the phrase should be “work smarter AND harder”. Exhortations to work smarter without also pushing people to work harder is providing advice that sells them short of maximum potential. If you implement the aforementioned principles in your daily life, why shouldn’t you also apply them to your whole life? Remember, if you don’t know where you’re going, any way will get you there. Being strategic about your life goals and what you need to do to get there means applying the fourteen principles in a macro way. Imagine the person you want to be 20 years from now. Do you want to be a millionaire? Do you want to own your own successful business? Do you want to launch a new brand, be a famous novelist, or release a music album? You can’t achieve those goals if you aren’t deliberate and strategic about achieving them.

So how can you apply these principles at a macro level?

• Pick your goal. Backwards plan from that goal and be single-minded in achieving it. Keep the big picture in mind when you’re making your plan.
• Be ruthlessly honest about the steps you need to achieve to get there. Do you want to lose 20 lbs? Know that you’ll either have to cut thousands of calories from your diet on a weekly basis to get there or do thousands of calories’ worth of exercise. There’s simply no other way.
• Consider the opportunity costs. On average we’ll live to about 70–80 years old, barring some revolutionary breakthrough in medicine. So you only have so much time to accomplish your goal. All the other time you spend on irrelevant tasks is time you won’t be spending to get where you really want to go.

I’ll leave you with this final story. When I was three and a half years old, I immigrated to the United States. I spoke zero English. When I started pre-Kindergarten the following year, I didn’t speak very much with my classmates because I couldn’t. My teachers told my parents that I didn’t make enough progress that year and would have to be sent to English as a Second Language classes (ESL). I didn’t know at the time, but that meant I would be separated from the “regular kids” and have to ride a “short bus” across town to attend ESL. My parents thought I was on a path to failure (I wasn’t acclimating to the school environment) and I started to slowly realize that I was “different” and potentially less-able than my classmates. At a young age, it could have been easy for me to give up and settle for mediocrity. Instead, I took it as a challenge (what right do you have to send me to the remedial class!). With the help of an amazing ESL teacher and coaching from my parents, I was able to rejoin my classmates in 1st grade after a year of remedial schooling and made it all the way to the Ivy League. Like being drafted in the sixth round or being rejected by many publishers, we should always remember that we have a choice in the direction of our lives and how we use our time. Take those tough moments and turn them into motivation. You’ll find yourself even more productive, not less, as a result.

Summary

• Never give up!
• Life goes on and so will you. Make the most of it!

Did you find this helpful? I just published an e-book with 13 more productivity principles to help you achieve more.

Check it out at www.groveave.co