The Key to Success

There are probably many keys to success, but I'm thinking about what is most necessary to accomplish your desired outcome. The answer is Persistence. I had a teacher tell me that the diffference between those who succeed and those who fail, is that the successful ones persist. They continue to push forward even when things look bleak. They continue when they come to an obstacle. They go over, around, under or through the obstacle and persist. I'm not saying that they never rest or that they never make adjustments to their plan, but basically they persist.

For example, say you want to quit smoking. Smokers tell me it is almost impossible to resist a craving for nicotine. And even when you have not smoked a cigarette in days or even weeks you may experience a craving. This is an obstacle to your goal of being a healthy fresh air breather. But it's only a small bump in the road, if you persist in thinking of yourself as a non-smoker, healthy, active, and vibrant.

What if you want to start a business? Most businesses fail in the first 5 years. This is because success doesn't come instantly. People do not persist. They give up!

What if you are a student? If you give up when you receive a low score on a test, you will fail the class. If you persist and decide to study harder or more frequently, you will pass.

What if you want to learn self-hypnosis. You may be eexcited at first and practice 3 times per day. But a few days later or maybe a week into your new program, you find yourself too busy to sit down for even 5 minutes. The next morning you postpone it until later. Then after a few days you realize you have forgotten to practice, and rationalize your behavior, saying it wasn't helping anyway. I don't have time for it. That's giving up. You didn't give it a chance. In order to develop a new habit you need 30 days. We are always looking for short cuts, but neuroscience tells us that it takes 30 days to establish new neural pathways. So persist for 30 days and see what happens.

Persistence pays.