Persistence...

If you know you want something… and you’re sure it’s what you want more than anything… then you just keep going after it right? You do everything you can to make sure you have it in your life. You commit yourself to the cause everyday… day after day… with the constant purpose of achieving your goal. A month goes by, a year goes by, 5 years, then 10… you haven't done what you set out to do, you still don't have what it is you set out to get.. It’s not how you thought it would be.

Wait a minute… what was it again that you wanted?

It can often be difficult to continue your pursuit as time passes. Life whizzes by and the world around you changes. What began as an extremely important goal to you, is now lost in other priorities or pushed down to satisfy other pressing needs. You wake up 10 years later and realize that you lost your way. You didn’t achieve the goal and it is still actually really important to you.

So, how not to let this happen again? How to get back to persistence?

The good news is today is a NEW DAY! If you’ve lost your will to persist somewhere along the way, you can get it back today… right now. If you’re still thinking about that goal, and wishing you had achieved it, I’m here to tell you that you still can.

Don’t throw regrets into the mix. They will rob you of the time you have now. Today is the day you begin. Today is the day you remember the goal and revive it! Yesterday you were doing what you needed to do for other reasons. Today, you declare what you need to do for you.

Reestablish what it is that you want:

Read declare your intention and declare what you want to the world. Don’t hold back. Don’t water it down because you haven’t gotten it so far. Reinvent it for yourself and your life as it is now. Wanted to learn to play the piano? Wanted to lose weight? Wanted to paint a life sized mural?

Know why you want it:

This is your mission statement. Take the time to really claim it. WHY do you want this and why will you continue until you have it? What will motivate you to persist when all you feel like doing is laying on the couch? Consider what you will get if YOU DON’T DO this now. How will you feel if you are reading this article again next year… and you are no closer to your goal?

HOW you will get it:

To get something different, you have to DO something different. So, what are you going to do different this time that you weren’t doing before?

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Come up with several different strategies and tactics you can use to get what you want! Be creative and resourceful. Find a mentor, begin to look for how-tos from people who do what you want to do (YouTube has some really good ones believe it or not!), find a new and motivational nutritional plan… don’t sit back and say you’ll do what you tried to do last time. It didn’t work then… it won’t work now.

Begin it:

It’s all well and good to sit there and answer these questions. Sometimes just answering them and jotting down a few ideas feels like enough. But, let’s get real here. If you’re going to do this… then really do it this time. Make a move that will make you responsible to someone else. Call a piano teacher and make an appointment. Join a local biking or jogging club (they are free and for every level of fitness). Call your best friends and tell them that you are starting the mural and you want to organize a “viewing party” in 6 weeks. Do not keep your goals a secret. Share them with a few people that you trust, who you know will support you and hold you accountable.

Do NOT allow doubt or perceived failure to derail you:

You just have to decide that you are not going to doubt for a while. Just make the decision that everything you are doing towards your goal right now is part of the process of achieving it. There is no failing... only process and learning. If someone says "no"... if you face a rejection ... if the way you were trying just doesn't work ... then, move on. Look at that list you made of HOW you are going to get it and move on to the next strategy.

Thomas Edison famously had thousands of prototypes of the light bulb before he hit on the one that actually burned the way he needed it to burn. Someone asked him if he was going to keep going after he had failed 100s of times.

His reply:

“If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.” –Thomas A. Edison

It’s all a matter of perception. You have the power to decide that you are succeeding every step of the way. There are no failures for you now. Only successes in finding out how not to achieve your goal. Just move through it and move towards it.

And most importantly:

BELIEVE IT!

Begin today, right now… to believe you can do it. Just know that it is coming. Know that next year, you’ll be in better shape… or a more accomplished artist. Whatever it is you want to achieve… know that you will.

“Fake it til you make it” as they say . . . just start living it.

Do you want to feel better about yourself? Then, feel better about yourself, because you ARE achieving this goal.

Do you want to have more energy? Then, begin to focus on allowing your body more energy. Eat better.. sleep better… you ARE achieving this goal.

Do you want to know more about music? Then, you know more about music. You have your first lesson tomorrow, right? You ARE achieving this goal!

Are you getting the idea?! By putting your clear intentions out there… by living “as if”… you will begin to feel the laws of attraction at work. 

You've probably seen this quote 100 times... but no one has ever said it better:

"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."- Calvin Coolidge 30th president of US (1872 - 1933)

And YOU are the only one who can do it. So, make the decision to go for it... and PERSIST!