Perseverance

From our Motiv8ing Ideas Archive

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up."
Thomas Alva Edison

As holder, singly or jointly, of 1,093 patents, the American inventor Thomas Edison knew what he was talking about! For 50 years, the incandescent electric light had been the despair of inventors. Edison himself failed over 9,000 times before perfecting the light bulb!

"The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are -
first: hard work, second: stick-to-it-iveness, and third: common sense."
Thomas Alva Edison

It is all too easy to be down-hearted and dispirited when we encounter obstacles in the way of our goals and dreams, and to forget that obstacles are an essential part of the journey in pursuit of any worthwhile goal. Obstacles are usually there to test our resolve, our belief, our faith, our passion, and our determination.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect
before which difficulties and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

Of course, sometimes obstacles are there to redirect us. The challenge is not to substitute perseverance with obstinacy.

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy
is that one comes from a strong will,
and the other from a strong won't."
Henry Ward Beecher

As we move past the half-way point of year 2003, let's take William A Ward's approach towards achievement of our goals:

"Four steps to achievement:
Plan purposefully
Prepare prayerfully
Proceed positively
Pursue persistently."

"Who works achieves and who sows reaps."
Arabian proverb