The dictionary meaning of perseverance is "persisting in a state, enterprise or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition or discouragement". Perseverance is the act of consistently making efforts to achieve a certain end, when the psychological temptation to stop the efforts or to direct these efforts towards the achievement of another, relatively easier, goal is very real.
The road to success is often very difficult to tread. This is especially the case when the chosen path is a bit or a lot different from what most other people have chosen. This is so because success along less chosen paths usually takes a lot of time to come, and then the lone warrior is tempted to switch the path to one that is mundane but assures quick success in its own way.
Importance of Perseverance in Business
Business is an activity that only a few choose to indulge in. While most people study hard to get good grades and find a high paying job that is equally taxing on their body and brains some, choose the other way.
A businessperson is different in that he or she chooses to work hard for the initial period and then, when things get set, he only has to work smart-the normal ones who want hard working and high paying jobs will do the hard work. The crux of the issue is that if the business makes more profits the owner(s) will earn more money, while the employees continue to receive only fixed salaries.
Setting up a new business and running it smoothly requires many skills-all of which require a great deal of perseverance. Unless one is smarter than the competitors are, he cannot win. This smartness is a peculiar mix of many qualities- the ability to learn and understand the requirements of the market, to understand the strengths and limitations of his organization and improve them if necessary, to convert this understanding into a useful product and to market the product successfully. Running a business will also need the entrepreneur to establish a warm working relationship with all those he works with.
This needs the shedding of ego-there are a number of negative situations and the brain can normally work in a negative manner, yet one needs to identify the positive situations and work upon them. Then one needs to understand which way the wind is blowing-because even if one may not be able to stop it from blowing-he can adjust the sails and continue the movement. Finally, there is the requirement of understanding the system in which the business operates, because in certain situations it will require more than theoretical correctness to get the job done. This is, of course, a lot easier said than done-the difference is defined by the rare quality perseverance.
In addition, if despite all this, he fails he should have the temperament to start all over again which would require even greater amounts of perseverance.
Success In A Business
It is owing to some far more basic fundamental principles which will determine your success or failure at anything you do in life.
They are your A,B,C's, Attitude, Belief and Consistency. Taking them in reverse order.
Consistency
We get up every morning, we brush our teeth wash, get dressed have breakfast. We are consistent in our actions. We do it every day. We need to do the same in being consistent with our tasks associated with our business for the days that we have chosen we are going to work, be it 1 or 7 days a week. We need the 6 marbles in our left pocket or left side of our bag and transfer 1 marble to the other side every time we have carried out a positive action i.e. seeing a customer, talking to someone about the business, etc. etc. We need to do it consistently. We need to have transferred all 6 marbles (better still 10) by the end of the day. We need to concentrate on the actions not on the result. I'll repeat that, we need to concentrate on the actions not on the results.
When we go mountain climbing, if we would continually look at the summit we would soon trip up and fall. We need to concentrate on every step at a time, one after the other and as surely as the sun goes down we will reach our summit.
An absolute and genuine belief in our business, it's products and services and what it can give it's customers.
Attitude
Possibly the most important of these three but useless on its own. It's no good having the best attitude in the world if one's sitting on one's own in a closed room not talking to anyone. So what is attitude apart from how one feels about oneself and others. I describe it like this.
Your face is transparent, totally transparent and your attitude shines through whether it's positive or negative. The first second that a prospective customer sees you maybe even before you see him, your attitude comes through. The customer sees it, maybe only subconsciously and will react accordingly. We all know that the first thing any salesperson has to sell is themselves even before they open their mouth. If they can't sell themselves they might as well turn round and go home and go back to bed. If they can't sell themselves they wouldn't be able to sell packet of peanuts or a Mars bar.
Another description of attitude, when I took my 14 year old daughter recently to Disneyland Paris we went one evening to an aquatic circus. Very unusual, people diving, dancing and somersaulting on water. It was a spectacular show. What made it even more enjoyable (we were sitting on the front row) was the fact that all the performers without exception were obviously really enjoying themselves. They were loving every minute of it and gave it their all. Their attitude really shone through like a beacon and this made our enjoyment total.
So when we get up in the morning and do our consistency things let's get a really big warm smile from within feeling good about ourselves and keep that all day. When we go about our business we need to keep out good attitude with us. If we can't also be in the place where we are physically there's no point being there in the first place. It's easier to ride a horse in the direction that it's going.
So those are my 3 all important ingredients that determine one's success or failure at anything in life.
Both Stephen Campbell & Steve Hill are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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