10 Reasons to Practice Persistence
Are you persistent? If you have persistence, you continue to do something even though it is difficult, it is the ability to stick with something, working hard, and trying again and again until you achieve what you have set out to achieve. (tenacity).
If you persist, you can’t fail!
It should be noted here that another quality, resilience, is equally as important as persistence.
Resilience is defined as an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. As an Unbeatable Mind coach, I define resilience as “fall down seven times, get up eight times, stronger, faster and wiser each time.
Consider these benefits of persistence:
1. You’ll become an expert.
Chances are that the first time you try something you might not be good at it. However, once you’ve mindfully completed the same task multiple times, you’ll likely become better and better, possibly becoming an expert at the task in the process.
Note that I mentioned you must be mindful, your ability to focus on the task at hand will play a large role in how quickly you gain proficiency with the task.
2. Persistence will motivate you to try harder.
With each attempt, you’ll move a little closer to your goal or at least learn in the attempt. The goal you are working toward must be the correct goal, it must have deep meaning and value for you or you run the risk of becoming frustrated and distracted. If your goal is meaningful to you, incremental progress will help motivate you as it will show that your effort makes a difference.
3. Persistence is a sign of ambition.
Are you persistent for the right reasons and with the right goals? It is not uncommon for people to persistently climb the corporate ladder only to realize they were climbing the wrong ladder.
Burnout and discontent may be byproducts of persistence towards goals that are not aligned with your life’s true purpose, your passion, or in alignment with your principles.
- Most successful people have failed at least once, but this did not stop them from achieving success. With each failure, they learned what they needed to do differently the next time they tried.
- Successful people look at failure differently than most, they don’t consider failure as an endpoint but a chance to learn, regroup and reframe then set out again.
- Eventually, they succeeded, which would never have happened had they become discouraged at the first sign of failure.
4. You’ll set a good example.
Whether you’re setting an example for your work colleagues or your children, if they see that you’re not willing to give up when you face adversity, they’ll be more inclined to try harder at their challenges.
- Become a role model and those around you will become more consistent and hard-working too.
- How you move forward is as important as moving forward. Are you bemoaning each setback, or do you take it in stride with a positive mindset? This is an example worth setting.
5. Persistence teaches you the value of success.
Being successful takes time and effort. No one ever became successful without making sacrifices and being persistent with their time and efforts.
- There is no such thing as a free lunch!
6. Persistence provides you vital experience.
When you’re persistent, you learn that each failure presents you with another opportunity to learn. Pay attention to the lesson, avoid repeating your previous failure.
Learning to see the pothole in front of you is only part of the lesson, learning to avoid the pothole is great, but deciding to walk on a different street is a master’s level skill.
7. You become more aware of your weaknesses.
To achieve success at anything, it’s necessary to understand your weaknesses. When you look at your failures, you’ll discover your faults and learn what you need to work on to become successful.
8. People judge you on your consistency.
When you’re persistent, you also develop consistency. Many people look for this skill, whether in the workplace or your personal life. They want to know that you’ll work hard to do what needs to be done regularly.
Look at what a person does, not what they say they will do.
9. You’ll learn that things that come easy bring little reward.
Harder tasks may require a little work and consistency, but they offer much greater rewards. Is it not worth making that little extra effort to achieve greater rewards?
10. Most importantly, you’ll be able to create the life you desire.
With persistence and resilience, you’ll be able to sail through life’s setbacks. You’ll seek solutions to overcome your challenges and keep moving forward to build a life that satisfies you.
Goal setting is a practice to habituate that enhances and prolongs persistence, if you are setting the right goals. If your goals do not fit your capacity or are poorly timed, you may soon become discouraged when inevitable setbacks occur.
As an Unbeatable Mind coach, I employ several battle-tested goal and micro-goal setting tools with my clients to ensure they are picking the right goals, keeping focused, and moving forward toward mission success.
Persistence is important, as rarely anything worth having in life comes without consistent effort. Most often, you’ll have to work for what you want.
Persistence paired with resilience will allow you to achieve anything you set your heart on!