The times in my life where I have experienced the most success (and therefore the most enjoyment) are when I have focused my energy, worked hard, and persevered when it wasn’t working. I used to practice my guitar four hours a day when I was 20 because I wanted to be a Rock Star. I didn’t get to be a rock star but my band made money and we had a great time. In my honors year at University my car was always the first one in the car park in the morning and the last one left at night. That is the reason I was successful.
On the other hand, when I have been half-hearted and did not persevere (tennis, the bagpipes, cooking, running… the list goes on) I was not successful and I didn’t enjoy it!
It turns out that this is the pattern for all success and the resulting enjoyment.
Successful people have three mindsets that enable them to be successful and to thereby love and enjoy what they do.
1. Determination
Determination simply means coming to the point of certain decision. No wavering, no maybes, but a definitive decision. For example:
I will write a book.
I will start a business.
I will get a degree.
I will be a professional golfer.
I will become a millionaire.
I will double my business profits next year.
I will buy my first investment property.
I will launch my own website.
Unfortunately many people are not good at making decisions. Even fewer people make absolute certain decisions and follow through. This is a very important mental state to get into if you want to succeed. Be decisive and be determined that nothing can stop you.
2. Diligence
Diligence is the persistent exertion of body or mind to achieve the decision you have made.
Above all you much be persistent. Give your project high energy and give it momentum. Diligence is often used interchangeably with hard work. It means sometimes starting early and working late. It means concentrating while everyone else is slacking off. It means working to achieve your goal while everyone else is on holiday. It means doing five hours preparation when everyone else is doing one hour.
I like what author Stephen King said:
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
3. Perseverance
Perseverance is simply a granite-hard resolution that no matter what, you won’t quit or give up or turn aside from the course you have set or the goal you are pursuing. If you set your mind that nothing will stop you – nothing will!
Sadly most people give up at this very step. You might set the right goal, have the right environment and have a sure recipe for success but if you don’t have perseverance you will not succeed. Why? Because life is designed to give us hurdles and challenges and obstacles. Not only that but the bigger the goal, the greater the challenges.
I can’t emphasize strongly enough how important this is. The great inventions, the great strides in progress, the great leaps in human understanding have been born out of perseverance.
Tip #1 Determination Step
Choose one area of your life where you already have a goal or an idea or a plan, but you have done nothing about it for months or years. Settle in your mind today that you will make a certain decision in that area. Write it down and take the first action step today.
Tip #2 Diligence Step
Get excited and get persistent about the decision you have made. Get everything else off your agenda for today and concentrate on getting your plan off the ground. Remember that for a rocket to get to the moon it takes a number of days. But it only takes 19 minutes for the rocket to do the hard work of getting away from the earth’s gravity. Think about your initial energy as the 19 minutes. Once you have done that, the momentum you have generated will take you the rest of the way.
Tip #3 Perseverance Step
Set your mind that nothing will stop you achieving your plan. Expect obstacles and hurdles. But also expect to find ways to get over them or around them. If you achieve in perseverance, you will achieve your dreams.
Oli Hille
www.Amazon.com/author/1
Oli Hille is the author of the Amazon #1 Bestselling Personal Development book “Creating the Perfect Lifestyle” which was reviewed as the “Must have book of the century” (by Midwest Book Review, USA).