Desire, Planning, Effort and Perseverance

Jim Rohn said in one of his weekly newsletters “Can a poor person become wealthy? Of course! The unique combination of desire, planning, effort and perseverance will always work its magic. The question is not whether the formula for success will work, but rather whether the person will work the formula. That is the unknown variable. That is the challenge that confronts us all. We can all go from wherever we are to wherever we want to be. No dream is impossible provided we first have the courage to believe in it.” 

While I agree in theory with what he said, I would say that the unique combination of desire, planning, effort and perseverance is difficult to find in someone.  While we all know that these are the qualities that it takes, I think it is important to recognize that some or all of these skills may need to be developed.  The faster you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of people you are working with, the faster you can get them where they want to go. 

Desire.  This seems like the easiest one right?  Wrong.  It is amazing now many people cannot articulate what they REALLY want.  Once you get past the basics, food, shelter, clothes many people start to struggle with what else they want.  Many of us have been told all our lives what we should and should not expect from life.  We have also been told that it is somehow wrong to want things.  As a result, people struggle with the idea of being wealthy and it is often very difficult to get past all that. 

Planning.  Some people don’t know how to plan and some people take it to the extreme.  Learning how to plan without losing your priorities is a skill.  It can be learned.  Leaning to follow the plan is also another area that needs consideration.  There are lots of books out there about planning and it only takes a web search to find them.

Effort.  This is directly tied to desire.  The motivation to put forth the effort is often fueled by the desires, or, as it is commonly referred to, the why.  It is much easier to put forth the effort if your why is big enough.

Perseverance.  Again tied to desire, but also tied to encouragement.  People are more likely to give up when they feel alone.  It is also easy to give up if you don’t see the big picture.  So many things in our lives compete for our attention.  Keeping our plans in place can be difficult, but if you can see how the future could be if you stick to the plan, you will be able to persevere through the difficult times.

Leaning to recognize the strengths and weakness in people is a talent all its own.  It takes time and patience to learn about people.  It also takes a commitment on your part to stay in communication with your team both as a group and on an individual basis as much as possible.  Give them the resources they need to developed skills in the areas they are lacking and continue to grow their natural talents.  Remember The Law of Compensation from the book The Go Giver “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”