I remember in a particular place where I did a vacation job for about 3 months while I was in school some years back. Two people came to learn a particular skill there, and after about 2 weeks, one of them became frustrated because he found it difficult. It was not long and he dropped out. But the other person, even though he started poorly, and struggled with learning, yet he continued. He found himself improving little by little. By the time I left the place, he had already learnt the skill to a considerably fair extent. Fastforward to some months ago. I ran into him and I discovered that he already gained mastery in the same skill. His progress came as a result of not giving up. Even when it seemed difficult, he did not give up trying.
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What a lot of people fail to understand is that success is not always about luck, talent, or perfect condition. In more cases than not, success is a function of one very fundamental decision; not to give up. You will be surprised how a lot of people start their dreams with so much excitement, and start to pursue their goals with enthusiasm, but not all of them continue when things become tough. What makes the difference between those who grow and others is persistence. That is, they kept going even when life itself was suggesting to them to give up. Your progress in life is heavily dependent of what you refuse to give up on.
Any meaningful goal that you want to achieve will come with its own challenges. There may be times when you will face challenges, mistakes, delays, frustration, and may even experience failed attempts. There may also be days when progress may feel so slow to the point that giving up may feel like an easy option, even easier than continuing. But growth will happen when you keep going even in the presence of difficulties. It is your persistence that will empower your actions and give them more time to produce the desired results.
One of the reasons why it looks like some people give up too easily is simply because of their expectations of quick success. When you expect the result to come quick-quick and it did not, there is a tendency for you to feel like giving up. When people expect immediate result, they may feel discouraged when things take longer than expected. But they fail to understand that there are things about life that actually take time. For example, skills take time to be mastered, goals take time to be actualised. What matters most is not really how fast you move, but it is if you keep moving.
Another reason why people can give up is failure. After experiencing failure or disappointed, some people conclude that they are not capable of achieving success, or that what they want is impossible. Failure should not be a reason to stop, rather it should show you that you are actually making moves. The truth is that every mistake carries some lessons within it to make the person wiser and better. The people who eventually succeeded in life are the people who refuse to allow failure to become the end of their journey.
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To achieve success in what you do, you have to learn persistence and patience. If you plant a seed today, you have to understand that it will take time before it matures. But it does not mean that you will stop nurturing and tendering for the seedlings until it starts to produce fruits. In life, you have to learn persistence. Each of the challenges you face on your life's journey should teach you discipline, patience, and determination. As a matter of fact, without challenges, you may never realise your hidden strength, and what you are capable of.
It is worthy to note that refusing to give up does not mean refusing to adjust. Sometimes, to achieve success, you have to change your strategy, update your skills, and even learn from your mistakes. Persistence does not mean blindly following after the same pattern or the same methods that have not worked and expect a change of result. It is true that you should be committed to your goals, but you should be wiser in your processes.
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