I’ve been thinking a lot about the principle of persistence lately. It has been showing up regularly in my journal, it showed up in my re-reading of the classic book Think and Grow Rich yesterday when I read (emphasis from author):
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERSISTENCE! It cannot be supplanted by any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you in the beginning, when the going may be difficult and slow.
It showed up in the quotation that will go out to our Powerquotes Plus subscribers today:
“I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take anotherstep. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another.In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult…I know thatsmall attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.”
— Og Mandino, author
And, as I reflected on this behavior yesterday, I realized it showed up, in different words, the the recent book by Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everyone Else . In this book, he calls it by another name – deliberate practice.
Here we have three snippets of thought on the same topic, written in the 1930’s, in the 1960′ or 70’s and in 2008. The idea is timeless, it’s application as relevant today as then.All of this is important to us as individual human beings – and I’m not telling you anything , really, that you don’t already know. The challenge isn’t in knowing, it is in doing what we know.
This takes on an additional level of importance when we consider persistence from a leadership perspective. Let’s go back to the closing line from the Napoleon Hill quotation – “and it will hearten you in the beginning, when the going may be difficult and slow.”
Isn’t this, in part our role as a leader in any project, task or progress towards a worthy objective — to “hearten” or inspire or encourage people at the start of a project?
Let me be blunt.
We can create and engage in the best leadership skill training, we can create the best leadership development opportunities, and we can provide coaching and mentoring that is outstanding, and yet, if all of these programs and leadership activities, don’t include an ongoing persistent process of improvement – a way to instill and inspire persistence, we will fall short of what is possible.
As a leader, when we practice proactive persistence – persistence that is positive and supports people through both an example and support to pursue the desired objectives persistently, we are truly leading.
Ask yourself today what you can do to create greater persistence in yourself and your organization. Your answer (and the action taken on that answer) will pay you rich rewards.
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