Never Give Up: Persistence Pays

Posted on December 30, 2008
Filed Under Step 5: Determination |

I am sure many people had tried many ways to succeed and nothing works, and not a few may have said in frustration, ‘I have tried thousands of ways’. But many people tried not even a hundred times to change things. Most would just try 8 to 9 times and when it doesn’t work out, they give up. Tony Robbins said that the key to success is to decide what is most important to you and then take massive action each day to make it better, even when it looks as if it isn’t working.

I am sure every one of us is familiar with KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). The chicken recipe was owned by this person named Colonel Sanders. The Colonel did not begin to dream about being rich till he was 65 years old. What drove him to finally take action? The answer is he was broke, alone, and mad. He was mad about his social security check that only amounted to US$105. But instead of blaming society, his age, and the government, he started asking himself, “What could I do that would be valuable for other people? What could I give back?”

The Colonel knew that he had this chicken recipe that everyone loves, and thought, what if he sells the recipe to a restaurant? It could increase the restaurant’s sales, and he would then ask for a percentage of the sales. He then went on to knock on the doors of restaurants and got one reject after another. Did he give up? No! – because he believed in his recipe and he knew he will come across one restaurant owner who would say yes to his proposal. He had what Tony Robbins called Personal Power, which means being persistent in taking action: Every time you do something, you learn from it, and you will find a way to do it better next time. The Colonel certainly used his Personal Power, because instead of feeling bad about the last restaurant that rejects his idea, he immediately focuses on how to tell his story better and get better results at the next restaurant he calls on. Do you know how many times the Colonel heard ‘no’ before he got the ‘yes’ answer? He was rejected 1009 times before he got his first ‘yes’!

It was about 2 solid years of persistence - being told ‘no’ 1009 times, driving all over USA in his old, beat-up car - before he received a ‘yes’. Now that is an example of “NEVER GIVING UP”!

Yes, and he was 67 years old when he finally got a breakthrough, and everyone knows the rest of the story - KFC becomes a well-know restaurant around the world. At 67 years old! Yes, this means one is NEVER TOO OLD to get started. I know that people at this age would consider themselves too old to even think of starting a business.

I also wrote a blogpost before, talking about how an entrepreneur got bankrupt at 65, was jailed till age 72, restarted his business at that age, and brought his business to success within about 10 years. Finally, he retired at 82 with a fortune of about US$5M in his bank! At 72, many would have died or are near death. Yes, you can NEVER BE TOO OLD! So NEVER GIVE UP. Money and success do not have bias against age and the types of things you can do. So long as you discover yourself and your valuable assets, find a way to SCALE it and with a sure determination to succeed, success will eventually come.

No problem is permanent and no problem affects your entire life. This, too, shall pass if you continue to take positive and constructive action. Think of delay in success as lag time. When massive, consistent action with pure persistence and a sense of flexibility is applied to pursuing goals, it will ultimately come to pass. However, you must abandon any notion that there is no solution. You must focus on taking immediate action today, even though they are small actions.

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