If success were accessible without hard work and determination, life would be uninspiring. It would be easy to commit to multiple pursuits because we would be overconfident in our ability to win at everything. The only problem with this would be difficulty in finding your niche and mastering a specific field.
Setbacks pave the journey to fulfillment and challenge us to fight harder for our dreams. Victory is always much sweeter if accompanied by stories of the struggle along the way. There is something about stories of persistence and perseverance that inspire one to put all the effort to assure victory.
Never lose sight of the vision.
If your vision is important to you, you will not quit at the first sign of resistance or rejection. Giving up shows holes in your conviction. We often drive our children to succeed at the exact things we quit and failed at. Your dream should inspire you to fight setbacks instead of imposing your dream on your children. It is, therefore, imperative to keep sight of the end goal at all times so that the stumbling blocks do not entice you to quit. If failure comes to a person determined to win at all costs, its impact is less likely to derail the vision. It becomes easier to pick yourself up, dust yourself up, and try again, which is the winner’s mindset.
Do not camp around failure.
Thomas Edison tried over a thousand ways to build a light bulb and never failed once. What most people call failure, he called it, finding things that did not work. We use electric light bulbs in this present age as a testament to his perseverance. Had he chosen to quit at the tenth or nine-hundredth trial, his name would never have held any significance in the history books.
Behind every success story is a series of failures. The idea is drawing lessons from each one to help shape the dream better. When you fall in any endeavor, do not get comfortable on the ground. Do not over-analyze or second guess your ability. Instead, use failure as a light that shines on what works and what does not. When asked about the number of times he failed, Edison denied the label of failure and said he had just found a thousand ways not to build a bulb. Carry the same attitude, and you will persevere.
‘Do not change the goal; change the approach.’ Tony Robbins.
Patience pays.
The Chinese bamboo tree grows from a seed, which only breaks from the ground after five years. Imagine watering and nurturing a plant you cannot even see for five years. It is not a simple task, even though plenty is going on underground that you can not see. It takes a lot of patience and persistence to go through the whole routine year by year with no visible progress. If you drop the consistency of watering the seed at any point, it dies. In the fifth year, the seed breaks through the soil to grow upward at the recorded rate of three feet per day, which adds up to the full ninety feet of the famed tree being recorded within a month. Five years of labor with no results is easily swept away by the one month of remarkable growth.
It is equally important to be patient with your personal goals. You may not see the progress in the first few weeks or months or years, but if you are consistent in investing in your dream, the rewards have no choice but to come. Never drop the ball when watering and nurturing that dream, lest it dies before you can see the splendor of the impending victory.
Do not cave even if you are the only believer left.
As humans, we often depend on our family, friends, and colleagues for moral support. Sometimes, things can take an unusual turn from what we expected. It could take longer to build the dream. The same support system you started with can start doubting your vision. It often begins with slight hints that gradually become amplified. The first thing you will hear is, “at least you tried.” Understand they mean well when they say these things, but they are deadly. Get away from them. After that, they will start telling you to try a different avenue just because they do not see immediate results. Do not give in to those calls of defeat. If the vision is convincing, you would rather go it alone than give up because someone else does not believe in it. If you persist when they no longer believe, it is more rewarding when victory finally comes. The important thing is to stay the course, no matter how people around discourage you.
Quitting will always seem easier in the face of adversity, but easy always comes at a price. Giving up will always cost you as regret follows closely on its heel. You do not want to live with regret because you did not dare to push towards your dream.
Never stop doing what you love because you have encountered a snag in the race. Obstacle courses are more fun anyway.
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