Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other- Walter Elliot
To persevere means to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement. In life, perseverance requires an ability to stick with tasks, goals, and passions. Learning from failure and having the ability to persist is known to be vital to one’s success. Perseverance requires being purposeful, goal oriented, disciplined, committed, passionate, and determined. Personal perseverance means you are committed to a goal. Committing to goals and persevering will ultimately lead to the achievement of true potential. The key to perseverance is to take action and to have the courage to move past resistance. How does one move past resistance and take action?
It’s a beautiful life now is exploring and sharing “4 Ways to Persevere When Life Gets Tough”.
1. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
In the the Forbes Magazine article entitled “Three Reasons You Shouldn’t Fear Failure”, Bert Seither points out that “failure helps us grow as people. Failure builds character, grit, resilience, and knowledge. Fear is a powerful tool wrapped in a tough lesson that can motivate us to win if we let it. The problem is too many people stop prematurely and never see their vision come through. He goes on to state that “failure is a natural growing pain on the road to success”.
So, don’t be afraid to fail. I know! This might be one of those suggestions that is easier said than done, and that is okay too. Strive for progress, not perfection. Failure is not the most exciting thing to look forward to in life, but is vital to growth. I know I spent a good portion of life trying to avoid failure at all costs. This continued action did not serve me well.
In Scott Adam’s book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Kind of the Story of My Life” he lists and details many, many, many, many failures. Chapter Five is even titled “My Absolute Favorite Spectacular Failure”. Of his book he writes, “This is a story of one person’s unlikely success within the context of scores of embarrassing failures.” Changing the way we view failure will ultimately change the way we view life.
Thomas A. Edison failed thousands of times before inventing the light bulb. He is quoted as saying “many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
2. Take Risks and face uncertainty
This is another one of those “easier said than done” suggestions, but well worth its weight in gold. Taking a risk and facing uncertainty in order to achieve a goal requires courage and trust. Gaining the courage to face the fear of the uncertainties of life requires taking action without a guaranteed outcome. After feeling the fear and doing it anyway, uncertainty awaits.
Why are taking risks and facing uncertainty important aspects of perseverance? Uncertainty and risk taking involves moving forward in the way you know your heart to be right. Risk-taking is essential to finding your path and developing yourself. Not many people are willing to trust themselves and the process of life enough to take action and a risk. This part of self-actualization opens us up to new opportunities and experiences, which maximizes our potential and strengthens our resolve when life gets tough. Take a small risk, drop a small fear. Take a medium risk, drop a medium fear. Take a huge risk, drop a huge fear.
In the article “Happiness is a Risky Business, 5 Best Practices of Happy Risk Takers”, Psychology Today points out that “while risk doesn’t always make sense, and despite the fact that many people have a hard time managing the uncertainty that comes with risk-taking, risk does make life more interesting, more engaging, and more exciting.” The article goes on to point out that while most of us have been taught that risk is a bad thing, risk taking is essential to learning our limits, growing as individuals, and learning how to deal with the uncertainties of life. Remember “only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot
3. Set Goals & Keep Them In Mind
Setting and keeping personal, professional, and social goals in mind can assist with perseverance when life gets tough. According to Dr. Gail Matthews, who ran a goal setting study at The Dominican University of California, “goal setting is a concrete way to attain growth”. Dr. Matthews study went on to find that commitment to action, accountability to peers, and regular updates are imperative to keeping goals at the forefront and are therefore helpful in persevering when life gets tough. Using personal & professional goals as a motivator and not as a way to beat ourselves up is a great way to keep persistence and perseverance going when life gets tough. The ability to focus on the now and stay in the day will help to stop future tripping and going down the rabbit hole of life. Setting and keeping goals in mind will require a consistent reflection of your life. Goals can be family or home life oriented. There are a wide range of goals to keep in mind and move towards when constructing a path toward success. Setting goals and keeping them at the forefront of the mind is a helpful and proven strategy to stay focused, therefore helping to persevere when life gets tough. Research also shows goal setting and follow up helps benefit self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-reliance. Remember “without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.” – Mark Twain
4. Remember Your Why
Remembering your why and finding ways to increase motivation is another important aspect of persevering when life gets tough. Finding ways to remember your why and increase motivation is pivotal as it allows us to change behavior, develop competencies, be creative, set goals, grow interests, make plans, develop talents, and boost engagement. The benefit of motivation and remembering your way is one of the best ways to internally motivate, persist and persevere.
Remember….
You can’t be all things to all people.
You can’t do all things at once.
You can’t do all things equally well.
You can’t do all things better than everyone else.
Your humanity is showing just like everyone else’s.
So:
You have to find out who you are, and be that.
You have to decide what comes first, and do that.
You have to discover your strengths, and use them
You have to learn not to compete with others,
Because no one else is in the contest of being you.
Then:
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness.
You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions.
You will have learned to live with your limitations.
You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due.
And you’ll be a most vital mortal.
Dare To Believe:
That you are a wonderful, unique person.
That you are a once-in-all-history event.
That it’s more than a right, it’s your duty, to be who you are.
That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish.
And you’ll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down.
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates
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