Persistence

Persistence is a unique mental strength, a strength which is essential to combat a fierce power of repeated rejections and numerous other obstacles that sit in-waiting and are all part of winning in a fast moving and ever changing world of ours. It is the sustained effort necessary to induce faith and belief.

Will power and desire, when properly combined make an irresistible pair. Men who accumulates great fortunes are generally known as cold-blooded and sometimes ruthless. What they have is willpower, which they mix with persistence and place back of their desires to insure the attainment of their objectives.

Fame and fortune will never be the way of life until you pay the price for it by being persistent. Fame is not a common suitor, however, when you beat resistance with persistence you will get rewarded with fame and fortune.

One great example of persistence is Sir Edmund Hillary. In 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay got world recognition for being the first two people who climbed Mount Everest after having tried and failed  in the first two attempts. Sir Edmund Hillary showed his character strengths of vision and persistence. Without persistence all his skills would have been nothing and he would have reached nowhere. These qualities are something which all successful people have in common.

Persistence is an essential factor in the procedure of transmuting desires into reality. You can make a choice of either climbing the mountain or deciding to remain in the foot hills. You alone decide to quit or to continue when those inevitable mountain loom around you. The individuals who have chosen to stay in the foot hills have never chosen to develop their strengths however they always dream of being star and gun for fame and fortune. However, fame is not a common suitor, fame only comes calling after a high price is paid. The people who stay at the foot hills refuse to pay this price and hence continue to remain at the foothills.

Another great example of persistence is Ben Hogan. He hailed from a poor family and started as a caddy in the local golf club as a boy to earn extra money for his family. This lead to the birth of a dream of becoming a great golfer and he was obsessed with this dream. Every ounce of his body was saturated with persistence and he had put great deal of hard work, practice and persistence which lead him to fame and he became one of world's greatest golfer, he won the US Open Championship in 1948. But he had not yet faced his mountain. Next year he was involved in a head-on collision with a bus and he was not expected to survive his injuries, but he did, the doctors opinion was he will not be able to walk again and that was doctor's opinion but not Ben’s, he insisted that the golf club and exercise bar be put on the side of his hospital room, with this he began to visualize himself playing golf again, one year  later he won the US Open Championship, next year he won three major championship, in all he won fifty four championship after the tragic accident. Does persistence pay, what better example to understand then of Ben Hogan.

Another example of persistence is Miles Hilton-Barber. He went blind in his early twenties, but has not let that stop him from achieving his dreams. He has sought adventure and succeeded on expeditions to deserts, mountains and the polar-regions. As a popular after-dinner and corporate speaker, Miles weaves together rich anecdotes and humor with powerful life-lessons he has learnt whilst overcoming his blindness. He reminds his audiences that “attitude is what determines altitude” and that we too can live our dreams, because “the only limits in our lives are those we accept ourselves." He is living proof of the old adage "there's no such word as can't."

Persistence cannot be replaced by any other quality, superior skill will not make up for it, a well-rounded formal education cannot replace it, nor will calculated plan or a magnetic personality, when you are persistent you will become a leader of your industry and master in your craft. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence, talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, and genius will not, unrewarded genius is most common, education will not, the world is full of educated unsuccessful people. Persistence and determination alone are inevitable for being successful.

The people who never tackled a mountain and who perpetually wandered at the foot hills most of their lives have lied to themselves and everyone else who had listened so often and for so long that they are no longer even aware of what they are doing. They say they are content with the result, they will say that climbing the mountain is not important to them. They are getting by just fine the way they are. Odds are they secretly started to climb the mountain years ago and got scared, they hit the terror barrier, quickly retreaded to their comfort zone and have been hiding behind their own false rationale ever since. They frequently justify their sick mediocre performance with statements like, why should I go all out when I get there the boss would just want more. Such people are lost or misguided. Do not permit such people to pull you down into their trap, rather let them serve as a triggering mechanism to mentally double your commitment to yourself to become more persistent.

Symptoms of lack of persistence: Lack of persistence is a symptom of problem. The following are some real enemies which stand between you and noteworthy achievement and leads of lack of persistence:

1.     Failure to define what one wants;

2.     Procrastination or postponement, with or without cause;

3.     Lack of interest in acquiring specialized knowledge

4.    Indecision, the habit of passing the buck on all occasions and blaming others rather than facingthe issues head-on;

5.     The habit of relying upon alibis instead of creating definite plans for the solution of problems;

6.     Self-Satisfaction, not comfortable to leave the safe harbor of the known;

7.     Indifference, readiness to compromise on all occasions rather than meet opposition and fight it;

8.     Wishing instead of willing and also willingness, even eagerness to quit at the first sight of defeat

9.     Searching for all the short-cuts to riches, trying to get without giving a fair equivalent effort;

10.   Fear of criticism, failure to create plans and to put them into actions because of what other people will think, do or say.

Many people believe that material success is the result of favorable “breaks”. There is an element of ground for the belief but those depending entirely upon luck are nearly always disappointed, because they overlook the above important factors which must be attended to before one can be sure of success.

How do you become persistent: Persistence is never developed by accident, you are not born with it, you cannot inherit this and there is no one in the entire world who can develop persistence for you. Persistence becomes a way of life, it need to be built over time, to develop the mental strength persistence you must first want something, you have to want something so much that it becomes a heated desire, a passion in your belly, you fall in love with the idea so much so that you magnetize yourself to every part of the idea and then persistence will naturally come to you. The very idea of not persisting will become hateful, and anyone who even attempt to stop you will be in serious problem. Mountains, difficulties, obstacles will appear regularly and set back will be there but if you are persistent they will be defeated and you will achieve your dream. Persistence is as interwoven with success as cow is with milk. There are four simple steps which helps in building persistence:

a) A definite want backed by a burning desire for its fulfillment;

b) A definite plan expressed in continuous action;

c) A mind closed tightly against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances;

d) A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

The above four steps are essential for success in all walks of life. They are the steps that convert dreams into physical realities.

Persistent people never know why they want, they only know what they want, really want, they must have it, to have they must do it, to do they must be, they wanted so much that they keep imaging the same day in day out till it becomes a living breathing embodiment of whatever they want. When you want it enough, you are worthy of whatever you want, that is why you see ordinary people have always done extraordinary work.

The ordinary people did extraordinary things because they consciously recognize what they wanted and they refuse to suppress or dismiss it they would not let it go even if failure, rejection or death was staring at them in the face, it will have to be that way otherwise ordinary people will never do extraordinary things, they will never persist, the power of their want and it is the intensity of persistence which cause them to draw on the resources they had within them which they never knew. Remember, when the want is weak, you will quit at the first obstacle, a proper want is essential to persistence.

To sum it up, you must decide what you want, want you really want, way down deep inside or you remain in the foothills surrounded by losers. There are very few people who have admitted to themselves that this is what I want, this is what I really want and I am prepared to give my life for it. Ponder a little about the thought that you are already giving your life for what you are doing, what are you trading your life for, are you making a fair trade, what you are doing is your decision, or you are following, that is where most people live, let it go.

Take persistence as a wake-up call and lead yourself to the top of the mountain and in the process you build your strength, attitude and will-power to get out of the obstacles, difficulties on the way which take you all the way to the summit. Remember the view from the top is awesome.

Whatever you conceive or believe, through persistence you must achieve. Decide right now to become the one person who would make it happen. To be one of the group who would receive the lion share of the profits. Make persistence your most well-developed mental muscle.

“When the dream is big enough, the problems will get beaten, and the facts don't count. You beat the resistance with persistence and your reward will be fulfillment"

Life will then be what it meant to be !

Source : Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill

              Five Principle of Mind Games by Bob Procter

              Pictures from Robin Sharma

Barriers to Learning

To be successful in life, it is imperative to keep learning every day and keep honing your talents and work on self-development. We all are aware of this fact and know the importance of self development, but due to our neurological conditioning and habit we tend to ignore this and by the time we realize the same we had already missed some great opportunities which came our way. We tend to be complacent and do not want to put ourselves into discomfort and are happy to lead the life we are leading. This lead to stagnation over a period both in professional as well as personal life. In this blog, I would like to touch upon  few of the barriers to learning and approach to overcome the same.

There are four barriers to learning and the same is described below:

1. Phenomenon of discounting : When you see the idea which is different, you tend to discount the same i.e. you quickly react as this idea though good will not work out, because you cling to your believes which you have gathered in our journey so far. Rather than embracing different ideas, you tend to ignore them because for you to adopt the same you have to leave your safe harbor of the known. At times you are not open to new ideas also because you believe that you will lose control of the situation due to fear of insecurity. This is a myth, you should embrace new ideas and not discount it, who knows this might be a game changer idea that would elevate and make you a better person professionally as well as personally.

2. Low level of presence: Your presence is most important at that moment. Your presence is scattered and not focused to take yourself and your business to next level.   Technology fragments the attention we pay each other with every text message beep and social media alert. With technology, information flow is very fast and there is no time zone restrictions thus making it harder to feel empathy or use your social skills to advantage. Chemistry happens when you pay full attention, never when you are distracted, so always be present in the moment.

3. Intellectually closed: The more successful you become, you cling to, you fall in love with your current ways of thinking and your current performance and that is the beginning of the downfall. You tend to get complacent and you do not challenge yourself because you think you are the best and hence do not embrace new ideas and you start taking things for granted, whether your job, your customers, your family and so on.  For a sustained success, you have to be willing to be disruptive and look at providing something disruptive to your customers and take yourself to the next level of success.

4. Fear of failure: Its subconscious, fear of failure is sabotaging your way of thinking, you do not accept the idea which you know may create a big difference because your mind becomes louder than your thoughts. Your mind has got conditioned in such a way that you relate all such situation with some lessons you have been taught, may be at your school, by your parents, by your peers and hence you fear accepting any idea which is unconventional.

To overcome the above barriers, you need to construct your outer environment which would be an enabler in building a life full of learning. There will always be people around you who will knock you down if you give them a chance i.e. you are knocked down by others only when you yourself give a permission for this. The more enablers of mediocrity you adopt the less you will be enabled to perform at world class level. The more you clean out the mess around you, you will fly and become successful. The more you are committed to excellence, the more you will move away from mediocrity. The more you play at wow, the more you have faith in your vision.

Always think of creating a difference. Differentiation is the key mantra, the more you leave the herd, the more you move away from the crowd, more you look different and more are the chances for your success. All great people were misunderstood.

However, whenever someone takes this path, there are frustrating moments too. The more you think different, the more you feel frustrated because you would move at a different pace as compared to others. Because your vision would be big and there would be certain systemic and cultural limitation which would prevent you from being world class. Be persistent and passionate about what you are doing, keep a never give up attitude. There are many examples from history, the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Nelson Mandela, all were focused and persistent with their thoughts. 

You will also face criticism on the way because criticism is a defense mechanism thrown at you by people who were knocked down and does not believe in change, they will mock you, they will laugh at you and pull you down, knock you down. But you need to keep your focus and be persistent with your thoughts to achieve your ultimate goal, your ultimate dream, be focused. While it might sound repetitive, but repetition is essential to get the focus on what needs to be done.

Always be dis-satisfied. Be content but never be satisfied. Imagine where would be the world be if we did not have people who were dis-satisfied. If everyone is satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes. If you invest in learning and keep working on your personal development you will learn new ideas that would elevate your game and make you a better person.

There is a saying, "Ageing happens to person who stops learning" and it is also said that "if you eat three times a day you will grow fat, but if you read three times a day you will become wise". So never keep any barriers to learning for yourself because without focusing on learning, you are bound to get stagnant and to become stagnant in life is to begin to die. There is no safety in being the same person as yesterday. You need to improve daily, relentlessly.

Source : Learning from Robin Sharma and Darren Hardy

Success and Will Power

Success is not inherited, success is earned, build and developed!

The difference between successful and unsuccessful person is not a lack of strength, or not a lack of knowledge but rather it is a lack of will!

Science of will power:

1.       Will power is like a muscle, nobody is born with will-power. Will-power has to be developed with consistent practice and training. Research suggests that on an average it takes sixty six days to install a new habit, sixty six days for automaticity i.e. if you practice a particular activity for sixty six days non-stop, this would get transformed into a habit and post sixty six days this would take its place in your sub-conscious mind thus not requiring any extra effort by way of will power. However for sixty six days you need that extra effort by way of your will power.

2.       Limit your choices: The more choices you make, the less will power you will have. What you are today is because of the choices you made in the past. Will power is in finite supply. Most of us make better choices early in the morning. The more choices you make during the day, you will have less will power at the end of the day. The more choices you make of unimportant things, you will be left with limited will power for important things. Thus make as few choices as possible, only for few things which are important. Built your life towards minimalism. This is possible only when you deliberately exercise your will power.

3.     Self-Awareness: Self-awareness is the DNA of transformation. Between stimulus and response, between temptation and behavior there is just 0.25 seconds of opportunity window for reaction. For example, if you are offered a sweet and you may either be tempted or not tempted towards it, you just have 0.25 seconds of window to either get tempted or say no for it. When you have a will power you will have better self-awareness thus driving your behavior in a particular situation.

Common success principles and will power:

1.       Genius is much less about genetics and much more about your self-control, discipline, persistent, focus, grit, unrelenting will power and continuous practice in developing your craft. Research suggests that if you practice your craft 2.5 hours daily for ten consecutive years, you will in all probability attain mastery in your craft. A deliberate practice is required with intentions of making each day better than the previous day. Every great performer were in talent hub, surrounded by talented people/right people and had right association, your association plays a big role in whether you will be successful or not.

2.      Comfort Zone: Your growth is built not around your comfort but is built around your discomfort, challenging your safe harbor of the known. Pursue discomfort, go to the edges of your uncomfortable position. When you are at the edges of your capability, your capability enhances and expands. It is always scary when you challenge your limits but it yields significant results if you persist with it. The seduction of safety is more dangerous than the perception of uncertainty. The project you are most resisting is the project you should go for right now because this will challenge your limits.

3.     Natural responsibility to be great: Take personal obligation to run your mind like a super-star. Be the best human being. Will power and expressing your genius is the secret to happiness. Victim loves entertainment, leaders love education. Ordinary people love leisure, extra-ordinary people invest in their learning. Leave people better than you found them.

4.      Goal as a process: Do not get too hung up on achieving the goals. Goals are set because you need some benchmark to work on. The real value of goal is what the process toward reaching the goal make of you. Value the experience you get on the way, enjoy the climb, as this enhances your capability.

5.       Super tiny effect: The secret of all great success lies not in transformation but in evolution. Small daily improvements over time leads to giant/stunning success. Consistently improving day in day out has compounding effect on the final outcome.

Tactics for maintaining strong will power:

1.           Ritual of re-fueling: Build rest to your life. Work in an interval of 90-120 minutes and then take 10 minutes break. Every week one day, try to spend with no technology and no work. Every six weeks take a week-end off or a week off;

2.       Exercise: 1^st 20 minutes of your day must exercise. Exercising early in the say will generate more will power.

3.         Vocabulary: Word is power. Use the vocabulary of “I Can” – rewire your mindset, I have a will or iron and a mind of steel. The words you speak are extraordinarily powerful. No more victim speak.

4.       Deliberate Minimalism: High performance, productivity is less of a “do” and much more about  “don’t do”. Build life around simplicity, strip off complexity. “A person who chases two rabbits catches none” – Confucious. Hence it is important that you keep your focus and choose actions which are important and weed out the unimportant actions. Apply the 80-20 rule in your choices and actions.

5.       Alleviate your association: Emotional contagion, we are bunch of animal, we model people around us. We behave like the people who spend time with. You spend time with victims, negative people, you will also be victim and negativity would pour into you as well. Move from mediocrity to a club of mastery. You must start to live a contrarian life.

6.        Do not allow mess around you: Live in a mess free environment. Mess creates stress, clean and clear all the mess around you.

Start small by making some commitment. Do not try to climb the mountain on day one, start small and gradually you will build for yourself will power to deal with any situation you get into.

Source : Reading from Robin Sharma's articles 

Finish Strong - Stretch Yourself Till the Finish Line

In this blog, I would like to share some learning I had from the half marathon I participated two weeks back. This was my third half marathon since I have taken up running as a hobby around two years back. In my earlier two marathons I had finished the half marathon (21.07 kilometer) clocking 2 hours 1 minutes, which by all stretch of imagination was an excellent achievement for a person who had just taken running as a passion. This time I was very enthusiastic and passionate about my running as last two marathons were run around a year back and in last one year I had practiced consistently and was confident this time of breaking the 2 hours mark of completion. I started off well and the early morning weather was conducive for running and I was cruising towards my goal till about 16 kilometers. One and half hour through the marathon at 7.30 am I had already covered the distance of 16 kms out of 21 kms distance, however the sun was blowing in full and it started taking toll on me. At this point instead of continuing with the momentum, I started taking breaks at short intervals to avoid dehydration and cramps due to the heat without realizing that these break will have impact on my target for the finish. As it was destined, I completed the half marathon clocking 2 hours 41 seconds, thus missing my set goal, just because I could not keep my strength till the finish line and allowed to drift the momentum with which I had ran 2/3^rd distance of the marathon and did not give that one extra effort. 

I could relate this instance so very well with so many instances we come across in life when we give up after covering 99% of the distance because we do not maintain the same momentum till the finish line and we drift on our goal and fall short of our set goals. As the saying goes, “doing 90% of what is required is one of the biggest wastes, because you have nothing to show for all your efforts.” Instead you must develop the habit of staying committed and finishing strong.

A truly inspiring example of finishing strong can be drawn from the story of ace swimmer Michael Phelps who won eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics to break the record of most medals ever won in a single Olympiad. Most captivating story of his journey was from the seventh contest (100 m butterfly) where Phelps was running behind for 99.9 meters of the distance. Realizing the same in last fraction of a second Phelps thrust his arm into one final stroke while his competitor for final few inches was coasting. Phelps tapped the wall first beating his competitor by a mere one hundredth of a second. Phelps stretched himself with that extra effort to finish it strong.

Most of us may not experience such a dramatic moment in our lifetimes, but we do make daily choices to either stretch or coast towards the finish lines we create for ourselves through personal goals. They are often small decisions, routine things we do not think about a lot while they have a power to determine much of our success.

Reaching the finishing line can be as simple as completing an almost finished project by putting that extra effort to cross the finishing line. Unfinished projects drains your mental energy. It derails your goals. It impacts how you feel about yourself and critically it undermines your reliability in the minds of others.

To put it simple, “Procrastination is the enemy of progress."

Life is full of such moments that require that extra effort, one more stretch to reach the finish line, to achieve success. If you do not have the discipline to persevere well, you are going to end up like Phelps competitors, looking up at the winner from a lower podium or even worse.

Few suggestions which could be helpful in building the habit of finishing strong:

1.     Engage in brick by brick thinking. Success requires daily progress. This is possible only when you practice with regular discipline every day as these small, incremental actions turn into tangible steps toward success. All success is built and sustained just like a building is built, one brick at a time.

2.     Amplify the reward: When you don't feel like doing what you should, then focus on why finishing is important. The why can keep you motivated even when you lack desire. Motivation is fickle. You can't depend on your emotions to keep you committed to your goals. So think of the end result and keep it in the forefront of your mind. How will you feel when you accomplish your goal? Why is it a priority for you? By focusing on the answers you will create for yourself strong change of reaching your goals.

3.     Build structure and systems around your goals: Great intentions will not take you very far. You need systems, they make it easier for you to stay disciplined. You should have insatiable hunger to learn. Fill your life with systems that would move you forward and push you to reach your wall.

4.     Surround yourself with support: You should have a network of people who supports you and encourage you in your goals. If you want to succeed, surround yourself with people who will help you, encourage you and when necessary hold your feet to the fire. Remember to choose wisely, your success largely depend on the company you keep.

5.     Quitting isn't an option: A great start is important, because all's well that ends well. But it takes much more to reach your goals. Think of it like farming - you can prepare the land immaculately and plant the seeds just right, but if you don't water, fertilize and cultivate as you go, than you wasted your time by planting the crop. Remember the reward that awaits you - the fruit you will harvest - and it will help you get you through the times of hard work in the summer. When you made the choice to start, you made the choice to finish. It isn't two choices...it’s one. If you aren't careful quitting can become a habit, however if you practice diligently finishing can also become a habit.

It is absolutely true that the fortune is at the finish line and that is why Michael Phelps aggressively reach for the wall at that critical moment. He could do this because he had practiced finishing strong every day of his life. And that made the difference between gold and silver. Let us remember, oftentimes, the only thing separating us from success is a few inches. So do not let up, and reach for the finish line.

Source: Learnings from articles written by John Maxwell and Darren Hardy