Thomas Edison refused to give up when his first efforts to discover a filament for his carbon incandescent lamp failed. Edison continued his search by doing countless experiments with a variety of materials, but all failed. With each failure, Edison, perhaps out of sheer frustration, threw the useless item out the window until the sink finally reached the second floor of his home.
Then, on October 13, 1879, after thirteen months of repeated failure, Edison finally succeeded in his search for a filament that would withstand the stress of an electric current. His persistence against daunting adversities had given the world the wonder of the electric light bulb!
Perseverance is the commitment you make to yourself to do whatever it takes to achieve your fondest dreams and goals. Perseverance means that you refuse to give up despite the difficulties that may surround you and despite those who tell you that your goal is unattainable. Perseverance is a fundamental attribute of a winning character.
Accomplishing something that is easy is something anyone can do. However, achieving what is difficult, even seemingly impossible, is something that sets you apart.
History is replete with examples of men and women who have persevered despite adversity:
An editor once told Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, hailed as one of the best children’s books ever written, that she would never write anything popular.
Not even deafness could stop Ludwig Von Beethoven. He composed many of his best works without being able to hear the greatness of the music he was creating.
At nine months old, Helen Keller contracted a serious illness that left her blind and deaf. Even though the odds were against him, and with the help of his family and friends, he developed a winning character with a strong sense of perseverance. He distinguishes himself from those with similar disabilities by refusing to give up and give in. She became the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor of arts degree, eventually becoming a prolific author, political activist, and lecturer.
An Angels shortstop coach, David Eckstein, once told him he would never play major college baseball. “That was painful, but not defeating. I didn’t believe him. I was brought up to believe in myself, so I kept playing hard and giving 100%.” A winning character, armed with perseverance, is not intimidated by the negative comments of others and simply continues to move towards the goal.
Jim Abbot, a former Angels pitcher, enjoyed frustrating his cynics by continually proving them wrong. He beat incredible odds and reached his goal of becoming a major league pitcher. He was born without a right hand.
Abraham Lincoln rose from a humble childhood on the Indiana border to become the 16th President of the United States. Prior to his election in 1860, Lincoln had been a lawyer for the country, a legislator for the state of Illinois, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and a two-time unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate elections.
His life is a testimony of winning character and perseverance. “Honest Abe,” as friends and foes affectionately called him, was largely self-taught. He was an avid reader and sometimes walked miles to borrow books to learn.
His achievements distinguish him from the common politician. He successfully led a fledgling country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery.
He overcame incredible odds to achieve his goals, including losing a child, suffering from multiple illnesses, being plagued by frequent bouts of “the blues” (clinical depression), and a series of betrayals by those in whom he had placed his great trust.
Albert Einstein was slow to learn to speak. In fact, his parents were so concerned about their son’s lack of normal speech development that they consulted a doctor. During Einstein’s youth, a principal expelled him from school; another said it would never get to much. However, Einstein persevered. Best known for his theory of relativity and specifically the mass-energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2 Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of photoelectric effect. “Today his name is synonymous with genius.
The list goes on!
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, had to take the New York bar exam three times before he passed it.
Ray Charles, a world-renowned musician and singer, was blind.
Thomas Edison – Had a learning disability.
James Earl Jones: He had a speech problem.
Franklin D. Roosevelt – paralyzed by polio
Itzhak Perlman: contracted polio at age four that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Stevie Wonder, blind from birth.
Stephen Hawking: He has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a condition that has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralyzed.
Woodrow Wilson: suffered from dyslexia and was ten years old before learning to read. As a teenager, he made up for his disability by learning shorthand himself. His academic achievements were due in large part to his sheer determination and self-discipline.
Terry Fox: Diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age fifteen. His right leg was amputated several inches above the knee. Three years later, the young athlete decided to run from coast to coast in order to raise funds for cancer research. Their goal was to raise a dollar from every Canadian citizen.
Steps to improve your perseverance
1. Don’t give up! When you are working toward a goal and someone or something offers you an excuse to give up, say “NO.” So many people are living fewer lives today than they could have had if that hadn’t allowed someone or something to steal their dreams.
2. Overcome fear with faith. Don’t let fear dictate who you are or what you are capable of.
Have faith in yourself; You should know that God has a plan for your life and that it is He who puts the opportunities in your life fully expecting you to make the most of them.
3. Learn from your failures. Each of us experiences failures throughout life’s journey. There is a reason for this: within every failure is the seed of a well-learned lesson. Each failure we experience reinforces an emerging solid character trait. It is our failures that contribute most intensely to the development of our character.
4. Welcome the hard times. Recent studies in psychology and biology are confirming what our grandparents intuitively knew: Exposure to tough times makes us stronger and more psychologically resilient. When tough times arise, here are some suggestions to consider: a) Focus on what you have, not what you have lost; b) Do not be blinded by the difficulty, look for opportunities that may exist as a result of the situation; c) Think about how the difficulty has helped you: how it has changed your personal values, what effect it has had on your relationships with your spouse and family, how it has changed you spiritually; d) Think about the benefits of the event: maybe you have rediscovered some personal values, or rediscovered a dream, or have learned more about your mission and purpose in life; e) Consider how the circumstance has made your life more meaningful.
5. Be fully committed to your goals. Whatever you embark on, do it with all your heart. Invest your whole being in each project. If you can’t hit a goal 100%, you have to accept the fact that it is unreachable. Extraordinary success requires extraordinary commitment.
6. Always do your best. Never make the mistake of thinking that something less than you deserve, you won’t. There is an old adage that will always be true: do the best you can and they will give you the best back. This is another law of the universe that is immutable. Use it to your advantage.
7. Take on the challenge. This requires discipline and hard work, but doing whatever it takes to meet the challenge is exactly what it takes to be successful. There are no shortcuts, no side steps or traps.
8. Never give up. In the words of Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, “If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there, and then never, never, never give up!”
