In a day or two, we will all watch Chandrayaan 3 land on the moon. Why we will all be tense is because of the crash landing that happened the last time. But what we should all be proud of is that after that we didn't quit. We decided to do it all over again. That is perseverance!
It means succeeding because you're determined to, not because you're entitled to. Achievers don't sit back and wait for success because they think the world 'owes them'. Ask God for direction, then go forward and refuse to quit. You must adopt the attitude of the man who said, "We are determined to win. We'll fight them until hell freezes over, and if we have to, we'll fight them on ice."
It also means, you recognize, life is not one long race, but many short ones in succession. Each task has its own challenges and each day its own events. You have to get out of bed next morning and run again, but it's never exactly the same race. It's said that Columbus faced incredible difficulties while sailing west. He encountered storms, experienced hunger, deprivation and extreme discouragement. The crews of his three ships were near mutiny. But his account of the journey says the same thing over and over: "Today, we sailed on." And his perseverance paid off.
Perseverance means you never quit: At a sales convention a manager said to his firm's sales force, "Did the Wright brothers ever quit?" "No!" they responded. "Did Charles Lindburg ever quit?" "No!" they shouted. "Did Lance Armstrong ever quit?" "No!" they bellowed. "Did Thorndike ever quit?" There was a long, confused silence. Then a salesperson shouted, "Who in the hell is Thorndike? Nobody's ever heard of him." The sales manager snapped back, "Of course you haven't - that's because he quit!" I remember a verse I learned on my grandmother's knee, "Bob," she used to say quoting from the scriptures, "We will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Perseverance means you turn adversity into advancement. Just look back at every pitfall you've been through, every failure you've faced and you'll see it's all helped create a stronger, more resilient you. Adversity is a great opportunity to develop muscle, so go ahead, build strength today, don't cry and complain.
Perseverance means stopping not because you're tired, but because the task is done. Robert Strauss once said, "Success is like wrestling a 1000-pound gorilla. You don't quit when you are tired - you quit when the gorilla is tired."
And finally perseverance demands all that you have. It's more than just trying or working hard: It's binding yourself emotionally, intellectually, physically and spiritually to an idea, purpose or task until it has been completed. As author Judy Wardell Halliday said, "Dreams only become reality when we keep our commitments to them."
Today, let's applaud our country for her perseverance..!
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com
