PERSISTENCE
I’ve been thinking a lot about the quality of persistence. Nine years after writing the first word of my new book, I am now into my tenth rewrite. It has been exhilarating and agonizing. I’ve put it away in a drawer believing I would never take it out again but, like the Energizer bunny, I return to the process charged up with renewed commitment and enthusiasm.
During the last fifteen months I have also decided to leave the agency that has booked me as a speaker for the past 26 years and venture out into totally unfamiliar territory as a freelance speaker. This means that I can now be listed with multiple speaking bureaus. It has also meant months of rethinking my speech topics, re-branding, re-designing web and media, writing new copy, re-doing, refining and re-doing again. We keep pounding away one-day-after another, day-in-and-day out with only faith and hope that there will be a payoff. And, the payoff has begun.
What has kept me going? What renews my energy? It certainly has required a clear, vibrant, strong, specific vision of where I want to be. Vision lights the path and provides direction. But, it is persistence, marching forth against all odds and just refusing to give up that has made the difference. That’s the lesson I would like to pass on to those who are striving to achieve an exceptional life.
I leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Calvin Coolidge, the 30th American president: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people 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”
James Mapes is the founder of Quantum Leap Thinking™, creator of The Transformational Coach™, expert on the psychology of “applied imagination,” best-selling author, highly acclaimed business speaker, consultant, seminar leader and personal excellence coach.