Misplaced Perseverance—all the experts tell us persevere, and that’s great advice—well meaning and earnestly said. Yet everyone preservers—the thing that really matters is preservers at WHAT? Homeless people will persevere through the most dire circumstances, people in poverty will make do until there is nothing left to make do with. I know times in my life that I persevered for very worthy goals, like becoming a ballet dancer, and other times I persevered in helping people in hopeless situations that were bound and determined to sink the ship with me on it.
So where does the reality lie in all of this advice? As far as I have been able to gather in all my years on this planet, it starts and ends with your beliefs. The solution is like a chess game, the rules are incredibly simple, the strategies are endless…So I now have condensed things to a 2 step process. If you are honest with your self and your sub-conscious, you will prevail!
1st, will it work? Every time I persevered, I believed that this was the right thing to do—or even believed that this was the ONLY thing to do… When I was persevering to become a dancer, I believed it was the thing I was put on this planet to do. When my husband and I have taken in homeless people, they believed completely in their failures, they truly believed there was no other way, they just could not achieve like everybody else. So, really, will this work? Is anyone else doing it? Then YES of course it will work, it’s already being done!
2nd, who am I? Am I that person that can solve this problem, am I the person that can succeed at THIS particular endeavor? That’s the sticky question, can I succeed? Can I do what someone else is doing (alive or dead) That is the critical belief! Am I good enough? And If not – why not? What are my perceived “lacks”?
I usually start the list with my strong points. Whenever I start something new, I detail what it is I know on the list of need to know is. When I set out to learn CAD systems in the early 90s I knew that I had been using computers since before PC, I am smart, I design clothing, I am good at math. That was enough to convince me to go for it, and it worked, I just remembered who I am.
It works perfectly in the reverse too. When I set out to run a clothing design business, I “knew” I was not a business person, I was not good at learning by the seat of my pants (as every business person told me to do) I required training(but training really is by the seat of your pants) For years, I failed at “business” I worked for non-profits. Until it hit me like a ton of bricks, I do know all about the process of saving a non-profit and turning it around and I learned from some mentoring and simply by doing it! And most importantly, it’s easier to save a failing business that it is to save a non-profit!
So, how will you persevere today? I hope it’s for everything that helps make your dreams come true!
Skylinesdesigns My Daily Desk 