“The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly.” Cecil B. DeMille
One of the key elements that will enable any person to achieve their dreams is the power of persistence.
Many of life’s success stories demonstrate the trait of persistence and a never give up philosophy. This mentality shows a clear, unswerving hunger and desire.
Persistence is defined as “the fact of continuing in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.” It is incredible how often persistence has been the difference between success and failure. History is full of examples of people who have achieved great success despite repeated failures and seemingly unsurmountable challenges that they’ve faced. Often it would be easier to give up. Life has a habit of throwing such great difficulties at us that we just feel battling on is pointless. Yet this is the time that we have to be at our most resolute, and refuse to give up on our dreams.
Last week I had one of those moments. I was attending my 3 month check up after my retinal detachment operation at the RVI Eye Clinic in Newcastle. I will be writing a more lengthy account of this meeting in the future and share my thoughts on how there are those in positions of importance who have no interest in other human beings other than the fees they can earn out of you.
The conclusion to this meeting can be summed up perfectly by my final questions and the responses from the Surgeon.
Larry: What can I do to bring about improvements in the vision of my eye that you operated on?
Surgeon: Nothing !
Larry: Having had two retinal detachments in the last five years what can I do to prevent it happening again?
Surgeon: That’s in the hand of God.
Larry: With the fact that I can see neither long distance or short distance through my bad eye, I just see blurry images that I can’t distinguish, is there anything I can do?
Surgeon: Yes, for 50 years you’ve had 2 eyes to see with, now adapt to just having one eye.
There wasn’t any care, pity, understanding or interest in either his words or tonality. In his opinion the operation was a success because my retina was once again attached. Alas it can’t be helped the damage to the actual retina was irreparable. He gave me no suggestions, didn’t direct me to any support networks, or offer any advice to help me in dealing with my issue.
I left his room in a daze. It was obvious to me that here was a man whose interest lay in how many operations he could perform to earn the income he required. Those under his knife were simply a number and the impact of his work on their lives was of no interest.
Now I had to deal with being a blogger and author who finds it so difficult to stare at a computer screen and worse still finds it so difficult to read what is on the screen. My inner voice began to suspect that a career change may be required. My difficulties were insurmountable. But then I heard the inner battle take place within my head. And ultimately I concluded that I have come so far, achieved so much, know that I am fulfilling my life’s purpose, that nothing will stop me. So together will persistence I know I need to adapt. Spend less time at my computer, and use audio recording to write a majority of my blogs. So I will persist, and also research methods to achieve what the surgeon says is impossible, improve my sight.
My belief is a dream will never fail if we keep it in the forefront of our thoughts. If we hold it with such unimaginable passion it will never die. No matter the obstacle, the power of persistence will see us through. I may not be able to see well with my eyes, but my mind can paint incredible pictures for me to follow.
That is the difference between success and failure. No matter the roadblocks we face we should never rationalize that our dream was not meant to be. Everything can change in an instant with just a single thought. I know that my challenge is testing me, but I refuse to give up on my dream. With each setback we face we must collect our thoughts, investigate what went wrong and determine our solutions.
With perseverance and a steadfast vision of our future we can all achieve our dreams. The power of persistence will ensure this. Liked many who have gone before, who got through incredible difficulties to succeed they knew it was just a matter of time until their dream became a reality.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge
Keep chasing your hopes and dreams, follow the mantra of the Power of Persistence until you achieve your dream. It is my genuine hope that you take these words and apply them to your lives, persisting in your efforts, courageously pursuing your goals, and transforming your life.
Just don’t forget that there is no substitute for working hard and believing in what you do.
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You have brought up a really fantastic article. It’s very useful and helpful. Thank you for sharing your article. Great!
I agree. Persistence will take you everywhere.
Persistence is the key to success! As Mr. Napoleon Hill said in his amazing, evergreen “Think and Grow Rich” – The only thing that he could find in the most successful people in the world, that he couldn’t find in any lose was one thing only – persistence! Some of these people were not even smart or intelligent. Many of them didn’t have any education, but all of them had mastered the most important personality trait we can develop in a life time – unshakable persistence until the end!
I love this article. Persistence will indeed take you wherever you want!