Perseverance — A winning trait
We have all known people with immense potential. The would-be academic geniuses, accomplished artists, or those who we know would be perfect at their jobs. We can easily visualize them being given a problem in their respective fields and they would seem to magically know the right thing to do.
Or this person could be you, the reader!
Very often, we know we are good at something, but it sometimes doesn’t reflect in our actions as much as we want it to. Why then, is our talent, a mountain of untouched potential, not yet been transformed to a masterpiece?
The role that discipline plays in a person’s success is quite underrated. We live in a society where things are taken at face value. We see someone effortlessly delivering a speech, or writing an entire novel, and witness athletic miracles with people running lightning fast. We try to imitate them. Initially, for a day, and then for another. The more persistent ones among us, take it a little further, to perhaps a month or two. Then we stop, because whatever we seem to do, doesn’t seem good enough. This can’t be farther away from the truth!
The people who so effortlessly seem to do marvelous things have spent years of hard work, and lived in constant discipline. They’ve reached their levels of success because they spent a fair share of work in trying to achieve it.
Talent can definitely give you a head start. But it takes a person with a great amount of patience and perseverance to keep at it.
Very few people attain great things in their first try. To persevere — means to put in continuous effort to reach your goal. Someone who possesses the quality of perseverance knows that they have to keep trying — be it on a smooth road, or a bumpy one. Robert Greene, in his wonderful book ‘Mastery’, describes real life stories of a lot of great people who have gained mastery in their respective fields. He relates how their ability to persist and persevere took them strides ahead in their journeys to success.
“It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.”
— Confucius
Throughout our lives, most of us have been dreamers, unafraid to set sky high aspirations. However, if we have never been able to get through the first two days of making a plan, perhaps it’s best to build this skill. The road ahead would be ten times more difficult without the quality of perseverance. This is the harsh reality of life. You have to make an effort. You have to spend time working on your dreams, doing what you have to do, to get there. It is just not easy. Keep doing it for months and years, and before you know it, half the work will be done. The key is to show up!
I remember one of my childhood favorite animated movie characters— “Dory”, from Finding Nemo, who repeatedly sang “Just keep swimming”, through every tough time in the movie. Maybe we missed out on her wise words as kids. Watch the movie with clearer eyes, and the wisdom in those simple words is charming! Just keep going. Have a goal, a commitment and show up every day to work towards it. Your pace doesn’t matter. Be happy about all the little wins along the way, but don’t let it cloud your vision. Don’t let the disappointments deter you either. Focus on the goal and keep trying. With patience and perseverance, everything else will fall into their perfect places!
