Did you know that lack of persistence is one of the greatest causes of failure for most people? Napoleon Hill details this notion in his landmark best-seller, Think and Grow Rich (over 15 million copies sold). In his 25 years of research, he studied over 25,000 people. As a result, Hill concluded that lack of persistence was one of the major reasons people fail.
And almost 100 years after the publication of Think and Grow Rich, lack of persistence is still a significant contributor to people’s failure. So the question becomes: how do you develop persistence? You can develop this quality so that you never quit on yourself and your goals again.
And in this article, I’m going to show you how. Keep reading to learn 3 simple ways to cultivate persistence toward your aims.
1. Get Clear
Do you know exactly what you want? Is it clear, vivid, and so detailed that you can see it in your imagination? This idea may seem trivial. But you’d be shocked at how many people carry vague hopes and dreams, hoping they will come to fruition one day. You need clarity. Your mind is an aiming mechanism that can lock on to targets and launch toward them.
However, you have to get clear on your target to unlock this capability. Do you want more money? How much, down to the penny, will satisfy you? Do you want your dream home? Where, how big, how many rooms, and what neighborhood do you want it to be in?
Here are a few tips for developing clarity:
- Write it down: Don’t trust your memory. It will serve you better to write your goals out using a pen to paper. This process makes your ambitions more tangible and helps sort out your thinking so you can see things more clearly and objectively.
- Daily review: Goal setting is not a set-it-and-forget-it action. You have to continually remind yourself what you’re aiming at in life. So once you’ve written your goals down on paper, ensure you review them daily to keep them fresh in your mind. The best times to do this are once when you wake up in the morning and once again before going to sleep.
- Consistency: What you focus on expands. That’s why you should write down your goals and review them daily. This way, you cement them into your thinking. And the more you think about your goals, the more you continually move in that direction.
As Tony Robbins says, “Clarity is power.” When you know exactly what you want, the world opens up to you.
2. Create Accountability
Accountability is a powerful force. All you need is one person who truly believes in you to move mountains. When you have someone else to answer to other than yourself, the likelihood you’ll persists skyrockets. In fact, accountability can often mean the difference between success and failure. So if you’re having trouble persisting toward your goals, find an accountability partner you trust who can hold you to the fire.
Your accountability partner can help provide:
- Support and guidance
- Motivation to keep pushing
- Plans for your goals
- Feedback as they can act as a sounding board
- An encouraging word during your down days
When selecting an accountability partner, ensure you choose a person with similar goals and values. You want someone who understands what you’re going through. And that’s only possible if they are ambitious in their life too.
The right accountability partner will make it easy to stay persistent. Why? Because you won’t want to let them down and look foolish for not keeping your word.
3. Form the Habit
Persistence is nothing more than a habit. And like any other behaviour, it is formed through repetition. So if you keep bailing on your goals, it’s only because you have not yet formed the habit of persistence. Here are a few simple tips to help you form this essential quality:
Make Success Easy
When developing persistence, it’s crucial to make things easy so you can stack some “wins” and start building momentum. What does that look like in practical terms? Instead of saying you’ll work out for an hour daily, start with doing 10 pushups every morning. This process allows you to slowly build up your persistence muscle over time.
Give Yourself a Timeframe
You can develop the habit of persistence by giving yourself certain time frames. For example, instead of declaring that you’ll read every day indefinitely, opt for a more realistic approach. Try reading for 5 minutes every day for one week. Once you accomplish that, extend it to 10 minutes daily for two weeks—and so on. This strategy helps you to build consistency without putting too much pressure on yourself.
Use a Habit Tracker
Habit trackers are an excellent way to build the habit of persistence. They hold you accountable and provide a feeling of accomplishment each time you check off the behavior. You can download numerous habit trackers to your smartphone (some of which are free) to attain this end.
Next Step: Start Developing Your Persistence Today
You are responsible for cultivating the quality of persistence in your life. No one can do it for you. For this reason, you must deliberately make the effort to adopt and develop this essential trait. But here’s the good news: It’s not as difficult as you may think. In fact, all that’s required is a commitment to applying a few simple principles and strategies. And luckily, I have laid out these techniques for you, step-by-step, in my ebook, The Disciplined Mind. Grab your copy today.
