Persistence Prevails When All Else Fails

~A young man who meets a sage asks, "Which way is the path to success?" The nonchalant sage points to a place off in the distance....

~A young man who meets a sage asks, "Which way is the path to success?" The nonchalant sage points to a place off in the distance. The young man, obviously thrilled by the quick and easy prospect of getting success, rushes off heading to the direction told by the sage. Splat!!!

The young man limps back, bruised and stunned, assuming that he must had misinterpreted the message given. He repeats his question to the guru, who again points silently in the same direction. Once again, the young man obediently walks off once again to the direction he was told. This time the splat is even more deafening and when he crawls back, he is bloody, broken, and irate. "I asked you which way is success!" He screams at the guru. "I followed the direction you gave me! And all i got was splattered! Speak up where is success!"~ Only then does the wise sage speak: "Success is that way. Just a little after the splat."

I'm sure many of us (if not all) have experienced "the splat." It's what we do after the excruciating tiring splat that makes all the important different. Many times this is what separates high achievers from zeros. Whatever you want to accomplish in life will require persistence. Champion racer Rick Mears said it well: "To finish first you must first finish." Let us take heeds from the stone cutter.

Emulate the stone cutter's attitude!

Look at the stone cutter, hammering away at the rock;
perhaps a hundred times without as much as a
crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first
blow it will split in two, and I know it was not
the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
~Jacob Rus~

Everything will come to those who persistently seek for them. Perseverance is the result of a strong will; stubborness is the result of strong won't. Baron de Montesquieu said, "Success often depends on knowing how long it will take to succeed." Herbert Kaufman adds, "Spurts don't count. The final score makes no mention of a splendid start if the finish proves that you were an "also ran"."

No one finds life worth living, you must make it worth living. The truth is that persistence can be a bitter plant, but it has sweet fruit. Joseph Ross said, "It takes time to succeed because success is merelly the natural reward of taking time to do anything well."

Persistent people begin their success where most others quit. many times success consists of hanging on one minute longer. You will find that persistent people always have this attitude: they never lose the game, they just run out of time.

Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
~Georges-Louis Leclerc,
Compte de Buffon~