Transformational Income: Persistence

Have you ever gone on a diet or started a new exercise routine? Were you successful at losing all the weight you wanted to lose or building the muscle or strength you wanted to build? If so, why? And if not, why not? What was the most important factor in the success or failure of your diet or exercise routine?

PERSISTENCE

In terms of dieting, we often call it “will-power” and excuse our failure by saying that we just don’t have the will-power to stay on our diet.

Persistence is nothing more than sustained effort and it is necessary to induce faith in our ability to lose weight or to accumulate money.

Napoleon Hill calls persistence the Eighth step toward Riches.

You see, will-power and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair. Mix will-power with persistence and use it to back up your desires to insure the attainment of your objectives.

Most people, like most dieters, are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune (or chocolate cake). A few carry on DESPITE all opposition or misfortune. These few are the successful ones.

If you are following this series with the intention of applying the knowledge it conveys, your first test as to your PERSISTENCE will come when you begin to follow the six steps (the same six steps, with slight changes in wording could be equally effective, applied with persistence, in dieting or exercising):

1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once to put it into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, morning and night. AS YOU READ – SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure. It is a weakness that may be overcome by effort. The ease with which lack of persistence may be conquered will depend entirely upon the INTENSITY OF YOUR DESIRE.

The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat. If you lack persistence, the only remedy is to light a stronger fire under your desire.

Go back to the six steps and start immediately to carry out their instructions. The eagerness with which you follow these instructions will indicate clearly how much, of how little you really DESIRE to accumulate money. If you have a ho-hum, that’s too much trouble attitude, you have not yet acquired the “money consciousness” you need to accumulate a fortune.

POVERTY is attracted to you if your mind is favorable to it, just as money is attracted to you if your mind has been deliberately prepared to attract it. POVERTY CONSCIOUSNESS WILL VOLUNTARILY SEIZE THE MIND WHICH IS NOT OCCUPIED WITH THE MONEY CONSCIOUSNESS.

Unfortunately, you really don’t have to try to develop a poverty consciousness, but you do have to work PERSISTENTLY to develop money consciousness. Without PERSISTENCE, you will be defeated in your efforts before you even start. With PERSISTENCE, you will win!

If you find that you are weak in PERSISTENCE, surround yourself with a “MASTER MIND” group and let them help you remain accountable and persistent. If you select your “Master Mind” group with care, you will have in it at least one person who will aid you in the development of PERSISTENCE.

You may find it helpful to go back to the section entitled How To Build A Better World: Auto-Suggestion. Follow the additional instructions on auto-suggestion and the subconscious mind. Keep up your efforts until they become habit. Your subconscious mind works continuously, while you are awake and while you are asleep. Let it help you maintain PERSISTENCE.

Spasmodic or occasional effort to apply the rules will be of no value to you. To get the results you want you must apply all the rules until their application becomes habit.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERSISTENCE! It cannot be supplanted by any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you in the beginning when the going may seem difficult and slow.

Those who have cultivated the HABIT of persistence seem to enjoy insurance against failure. No matter how many times they are defeated, they finally arrive at the top of the ladder. Sometimes it appears that there is a hidden Guide whose duty is to test you through all sorts of discouraging experiences. Those who pick themselves up after defeat and keep on trying arrive and the world cries, “Bravo! I knew you could do it!”

Remember that EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT ADVANTAGE. There is a silent but irresistible POWER which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement. We call it PERSISTENCE.

Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated. Like all states of mind, persistence is based upon definite causes, among these:

DEFINTIENESS OF PURPOSE. Knowing what you want is the first and most important step toward the development of persistence. A strong motive forces your to surmount many difficulties.

DESIRE. It is comparatively easy to acquire and to maintain persistence in pursuing something if you want it badly enough.

SELF-RELIANCE. Believe in yourself. Believe in your ability to carry out your plans for reaching your goals.

DEFINITENESS OF PLANS. Organized plans, even weak and seemingly impractical plans, encourage persistence. They are like the squint that helps you focus and aim at what you want.

ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE. Sound plans, based upon experience, observation, or study are even better than weak and impractical plans. “Guessing” instead of “knowing” destroys persistence. A precision sight on a rifle is better than squinting.

CO-OPERATION. Sympathy, understanding, and harmonious cooperation with others tend to develop persistence.

WILL-POWER. The habit of concentrating you thoughts upon the steps leading to the attainment of a definite purpose leads to persistence.

HABIT. Persistence is the direct result of habit and habit is the result of the application of persistence. They feed each other.

It has been said that what really matters is not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up. This is true of dieting and of accumulating wealth. If you fall or fail, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again until you develop the habit of success!