Do You Have What It Takes To Find Happiness And Success. Part 6.

The final and most important trait that you could ever possibly develop in yourself that will surely allow you to find success and happiness in life is persistence. A tenacity to keep going no matter what happens. No matter what you run up against. No matter what life throws your way. Your ability to get up, dust yourself off again, and keep moving will be the most valuable and powerful tool in your tool box of character traits of success. No one who ever found success in any area of life was someone who gave up easily. The United States of America is not the most powerful country in the world because of their willingness to back down and go home. Edison didn't invent the light bulb by giving up after the fifth failure, or the 100th, or the 1000th. He gave up when he invented what he set out to invent. You must quit only after you get what you want, and sometimes, not even then.

There is a word in the Japanese language and that word is "nin." Nin is written as a blade, or sword, over a heart. What that means is that even when someone has a sword inches from my heart and I am only seconds away from death, I will still not give up. In the martial art of ninpo we have a saying that I am not done defending myself until the lights are turned off and I am done breathing, or I am home safe and sound with my family. This must be your attitude in life in general. This must be your attitude. Never slow down, never give up, never stop trying and trying and trying and trying until you reach your goal. And even then don't stop, move on to the next piece of the puzzle or the next goal.

It is not the people who give up and go home that make the difference in the world or feel the most alive. It is those who have a purpose and give themselves 100% every single day to move closer to that goal. Those people who get back up time and time and time again after failure after failure after failure. It is the person who trips over and over again but stands back up and keeps trying to makes all the difference and knows the meaning of struggle and success. These are the people who know the taste of victory and defeat, adn these are the people who live in the moment of life. These are the people who know what they are made of and learn what they are made of. These are the people who, even when faced with unsurmountable odds, still carry on and find something great on the other side.

For some reason our society encourages people to be scared and fearful of failure. It is as though failure is taboo. What kind of nonesense is this stuff? How many times does a baby try to walk and fall down before they get it. How many times does a baby try to eat food and get it all over itself before it learns to use a fork and spoon. How many words does a baby mumble over and over again before it learns to use complete sentences. I have adults who still haven't learned to use complete sentences and mumble much of the time they speak. Why then is it such a bad thing to fail over and over again while trying to reach the top. Is it not better to fail again and again and move just a little bit than to never even try at all? Isn't even a little progress better than sitting back because of fear of failure? Every journey has hardship and trouble. Every journey has detours and obstacles. Every journey has pit stops and diversions. Every journey has a destination that is worth reaching and trying to get to. So be willing to keep going no matter what happens.

If you were to read stories about people who had terminal illnesses or some medical issue that was severe and survived it or were found to have miraculously healed, you would find one trait among all of them. That one trait is tenacity and persistence. All of them simply refused to give up. There was never a moment in their minds that they thought they were going to die. They simply refused, when that sword was at their heart, to lay down and die. If these people are out there and were able to over come terminal illnesses, what excuses do you have left? What could possibly happen that is worth than death? What do you have to use as a crutch ever again, when there are people who stared death in the face and won. The time to take action and move toward your dreams, your goals, your happiness, is right now. Do it with all you have, and let the world know that you did it because you refused to give up, and you were rewarded because of your willingness to keep going.