Persistence cannot be achieved overnight, just like success is not received overnight. This trait is rare and that is why only few people actually reach their goals. It is not an in-built trait, any one of us can learn it. Even learning to be persistent requires persistence actually.
I have an 18 month old son who takes up most of my day. I do housework and take care of my son (he’s a little too active) all day long. And when he is finally asleep at night, I feel like I owe it to myself to relax. Just lie down on the couch and watch tv or read a book. I feel like it doesn’t do justice to myself if, after such a hectic day, I sat down and wrote articles for my blog. I felt that was injustice and I should have a free relaxation time of my own.
And yes, we all should have our personal time. But if you are really passionate about something you will not need any excuse now will you feel that burden to do what you have to do.
Must read 10 Must Have Qualities of a good Leader
But I was left behind everybody else. And I started feeling jealous that all my friends are ahead of me.
So I struggled with procrastination all my life. If I didn’t procrastinate, I’d be a lot ahead today. But I learned my lesson and it’s hard to do but when you reap the benefits, you will be overjoyed!
Here’s how I changed my life. Follow these 5 methods to stay persistent and reach your dream.
Table of Contents
1. Know your Passion
Persistent comes from passion. Passion is a feeling towards a person or an object or vision that you strongly feel for. If you are passionate about making art; you will nevertheless do it every.single.day. Persistence comes easy when you are passionate about something. For example, you are a blogger, you think you love writing and want to blog all day long, but the truth is you only want to “make money” through blogging because you’ve heard that people make a lot of money through blogging. This shows that you are not passionate about blogging and will end up not doing it in the long run because you will get bored of it. You will find excuses to not do it and you will find excuses for why you failed. Therefore, find your deepest desire first before you think about being persistent about your work.
2. Make a plan for the next day
Persistence comes when you plan. Every night before you sleep. Take some time out and make a plan of things you wish to do the next day. When we have something to look forward to, we feel excited and motivation builds up, hence we do it. Doing something every day, be it a small thing, makes up the steps towards your success. So, if you want to lose about 10 kgs in a month, you write down every night what exercise will you do tomorrow and how much time are you going to spend doing it.
3. Establish Good Habits
Habits can affect your behavior and mood swings very much. If you have a habit of staying up late and then getting up late in the morning, then you may fail to do the things you must do. To be persistent, you need to develop good habits and routines. If you start by sleeping early at night and waking up before the sun rises, you will be able to achieve much more than people who rise late. If you’re into a business, you should be able to start your day early which gives you a wider opportunity to gain customers. Why do we get up and brush our teeth in the morning, freshen up and have a cup of coffee or tea? Because it’s our routine and we like it. But doing anything other than that becomes a burden to us. Persistence is routine.
Sometimes we give up on routine and habit for various reasons. Also, read these 8 Psychological Reasons you give up easily which will help immensely.
4. Change Strategies
You will give in your work if you do not get results. The problem here is that you try to be rigid with sticking to your plan. You say to yourself, I have created an ultimate plan for my business, how can it go wrong? If you change yourself and you plan as the situation requires and form new strategies to achieve your immediate goals, you will be most likely to achieve them. You don’t need to give up on your dreams, change accordingly but stick to it. This is how you can be persistent.
5. Motivate Yourself
This is sort of a given. You need to be motivated to be persistent. And you’ll tell me, oh by that IS the problem. I don’t feel motivation at all or I lose motivation fast. Well just do it. Feeling lazy or not having any ideas happens to all of us. But you need to find it yourself. If motivational quotes get up pumped up, then print some best ones out and put it on your work front. If some inspiring videos get you going, then watch them before you start your work. If there’s a mentor who figures who motivates you then talk to them, get help. Motivating yourself is important and that is part of your work. Take responsibility for what you want to achieve. Don’t think the successful ones have got it overnight.
Being Persistent needs hard work. Nothing comes easy. But if you really want to do what you want to do, then these things should come easy and achieved happily.
About Author
Hi, my name is Charmy Christian, I’m a full time mom, blogger at readerstreet.com and a foodie. My field of expertise lies in motivational and relationship based content.
