You need to possess ample amounts of patience and persistence to stay in the game.

As human beings, we have access to one of the most powerful machines in the world – our mind.

It is super fast, scanning and processing complex images in thirteen milliseconds with a single eye blink taking a few hundred milliseconds.

As Dr Joe Dispenza, author of ‘Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself’ attests: “Every second, it processes billions of bits of data; it analyzes, examines, identifies, extrapolates, classifies, and files information, which it can retrieve for us on an ‘as needed” basis. Truly, the human brain is this planet’s ultimate supercomputer”.

Playing The Long-Term Game

Why then do many people fail to use this powerful machine to reveal their brilliance?

Instead, they join the roller coaster ride of life, living a life of mediocrity. I liken it to watching a washing machine go round and round in circles on the same cycle then wondering why nothing changes.

As a result, we lose sight of our vision, our energy, and motivation to push the naysayers out of the way and fight for what we want against all odds.

The results achieved from patience and persistence can be likened to looking up at the stars to see a bright meteor soaring through the sky or a million dollars worth of fireworks lighting up the darkness with a multitude of colors that take your breathe away.

You definitely don’t have to become a parent to learn the art of patience or be a deal-maker like Donald Trump to learn persistence.

1. Persistence Pays Off

Persistence refers to following your path despite the obstacles and opposition you experience along the way.

Let’s face it, life doesn’t always go as planned. Irrespective of the circumstances we find ourselves in, we have the power to choose to change.

It took three years under the name of ‘Love & Honor’ before Jessica Alba’s company was successful. After refining the concept and changing the name to ‘The Honest Company‘, sales reached ten million dollars in 2012. Persistence certainly paid off for Alba with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the company is now valued at $1.7 billion.

Many other famous entrepreneurs chose to persist against all odds:

  • What if Richard Branson gave up after a reported fourteen business failures.
  • What if Martha Stewart gave up after going to jail in 2004.
  • What if Sam Smith gave up when he was working in a London Pub before his big breakthrough of becoming an award-winning singer.
  • What if Eric Thomas aka the Hip-Hop Preacher gave up when he first announced his dream yet received no support from his family and friends.

2. The Art Of Being Patient

When we take the necessary action to generate an outcome, we believe that everything is supposed to happen right there and then.

As everything in life is constantly changing, our impatience and desire for immediacy is driven by fear and goes against the flow of life. When we force things to happen, opportunities disappear just as quickly as they arrived.

Realize that there is something called ‘divine timing’.

Divine timing is about everything happening at the ‘right time’.

Path To Success

A business associate wisely explained that in business you must overestimate the time taken to bring projects to fruition. If you give yourself one year for a project, it will more than likely take two years.

This is what I have found to be true.

One of my projects was creating a short film which is an educational tool that was two years in the making. My powerful vision for my film led to many meetings with creative entrepreneurs. They loved the idea and could relate to my vision however I knew that they weren’t the ‘right’ fit for the project.

My patience and persistence helped me to build the right team, locate resources and  remain laser focused and inspired to create a high-quality outcome. We were able to produce the film in one day in mid-2015. Earlier this year, we shot additional footage  before adding the final touches to the film a few weeks ago.

Inevitably, we block the path to success when we are impatient or choose to give up.

By learning the art of developing persistence and patience, you inevitably create more successful outcomes and greater levels of satisfaction. Alba is certainly proof of that.

 

This article was first published in Inc.com