Persistence: A Key to Success

I read a post by Barbara Swafford entitled,“A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.“ In this post, she challenged her readers to pick a picture and then write about it.

I decided to take up the challenge.  It didn’t take me long to find the photo I wanted to write about.  It was one I had taken in Switzerland of a lovely little plant growing out of rocks high up on a building’s wall.

When I saved it, I named it “persistence.” I must admit, however, that I have mixed feelings about this word.

During my coaching studies, we were advised to take the Authentic Happiness VIA Strengths Inventory, which lists your top five strengths.  My top strength was PERSISTENCE  and, to be honest, this particular strength seemed a bit unfriendly.

After all, the dictionary defines persistence as “tenaciously continuing despite problems or difficulties; being obstinately persistent.”  I wasn’t sure I’d liked the idea of being “obstinately persistent.”

In addition, compared to the top strengths my fellow students got, such as gratitude, wisdom, kindness, and hope, persistence seemed rather commonplace; more like the dandelion among the roses.

Since then, however, I have learned more about persistence and it’s got some very good qualities.  Here are a few reasons I think it’s an important key to success:

• It keeps people moving forward, even when they want to quit.
• It helps people find alternative paths when they reach dead ends.
• It gives people the determination to overcome obstacles or difficulties in their way.
• It helps people succeed who may not be as talented as they are determined.

But I’m not alone in recognizing the importance of persistence.  It’s been used by many famous people, including John Quincy Adams, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison and Helen Keller, just to name a few.  They have attributed their persistent as a significant reason for their successes!

Over time, I’ve learned to value my own persistence. It has helped me to succeed, even in situations where others had more talent and ability. It’s also kept me going through some difficult times when I wanted to quit.

This may be why I like photographing wild flowers growing in difficult places. Unlike their hothouse buddies, these flowers have to be tough and determined to survive, given where they put their roots.

And I believe that’s the real meaning of persistence.

It’s the ability to keep going when faced with what seems like insurmountable obstacles.  It’s refusing to give up, even when things don’t go your way.  As Thomas Edison says, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

I believe the seed that planted itself in the stone wall of my picture had to be persistent.  Otherwise, how did it expect to grow in such unforgiving circumstances?  But it did grow and thrive!  And anyone who happened to look up at that stone building got a special gift of pretty pink flowers growing out of a wall.

Think of those flowers the next time you’re ready to quit something that seems too difficult. Let them remind you to be “obstinately persistent.”  It may be your best key to success!

What about you?

Can you think of a time when persistence paid off for you?

Tagged as: authentic happiness, helen keller, john d rockefeller, john quincy adams, keys to success, perseverance, persistence, persistent, success, thomas edison