“Persistence Guarantees That Results Are Inevitable”
— Paramahansa Yogananda
Somehow I’m starting to enjoy being vulnerable in my writing. I might even say that it’s one of the appeals of writing.
For a long time, I was terrified of that vulnerability.
In reality, the more vulnerable I become, the more things work out in ways I wouldn’t expect, whether in relationships or building a writing career.
Up until about two years ago, I was completely paralyzed in my life. Almost everything shot a pang of anxiety through my chest.
A “walk in the park” for me, was flinching at cars passing on relatively distant streets and worrying about being in view of any other person, even dogs! I couldn’t make phone calls because I was terrified of social interactions. Driving over bumps or losing my keys had me fearing repair and replacement costs.
My partner at the time suggested therapy. After seeing the results of people put through the mental healthcare system and learning many of the ins and outs from my time at university studying psychology, I knew that would not be useful for me. I had no interest in increasing the depth and detail of the history behind my problems or suppressing myself with medications.
I wanted to remove the overwhelming, debilitating doubt that permeated my thoughts, emotions, and physical body. I did not want to be afraid to go for a walk, talk, or exercise.
Discovery
It was clear enough how those fears arose in me. The family I lived with was constantly catastrophizing and skeptically questioning everything. It is hard to describe the minute details present in their doubts. I learned this pattern, and it caused me to be full of fear. But what bothered me more than the fear was the paralyzing effect it had.
My mind was confident that the outcomes of my actions would either be “nothing” or “something terrible”
I wouldn’t touch the things I wanted to do. I had tried to write and start a YouTube channel for about eight years. Every time assailed with logical arguments in my mind about how slim the chances of success were or how I would be judged, attacked, insulted, and misconstrued.
At the same time, in the face-off of all this doubt, I believed that anything was possible. Growing up, I studied people like Bruce Lee, David Blaine, Wim Hof, top-level athletes, and ultra-marathon runners. The human potential fascinated me more than anything else.
I knew intellectually that anything was possible, but it was taking the leap that I couldn’t do.
Taking the Leap
Aha, this is the fun part. I never leaped. I took the lazy way out, and it was the best choice I’d ever made. I sat and wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish in increasing detail starting in February 2021.
Then I changed the content I consumed on YouTube or other media and made it all relevant to my goals. This led to me effortlessly gravitating toward what I wanted to do. Everything that happened started to become new and I began to innovate new approaches to old interests.
Results & Conclusions
After all those years, I learned enough to start on TikTok and Medium in May this year. And within that first month and a half, I saw results! This was motivating and affirming after so much time spent convinced nothing could happen.
Truthfully learning is a natural ability. But we can’t learn if we go into something assuming the outcome. Then we will only find evidence for that outcome. Even then, we are learning how to produce that result.
The quote that is the title rings true because of this. Persistence will give you a result. It is not up to chance. We must choose what we are persisting toward with the complete understanding that we will learn to make it happen and gather the resources. In many ways, our level of certainty toward an outcome determines the quality of time and attention put toward it. This drastically affects how quickly we learn and create our desire.
Look back through your life and see that the things you’ve put the most time and attention toward are the most developed in your life. You most naturally move toward those things.
This is something I could look back and see at play in every instance of my life. There is plenty of proof. I was convinced to act with conscious intention to prove to myself that our experience in life is not created by coincidence.
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