One of the qualities I admire most in our great, former president Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is his patient and courageous perseverance. Despite huge obstacles and setbacks, he never gave up working passionately for his people. He is quoted as saying: “The struggle is my life. I will continue fighting for freedom until the end of my days.”
When we look at what is happening in South Africa, the obstacles to moving forward can seem overwhelming. Yet, if we take it one small step at a time and persevere, we are going to recover and rebuild, then grow and thrive. St. Francis of Assisi put it so beautifully when he said:
“Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Perseverance is one of the key mindsets of creative thinkers and innovators. Since creativity pushes us out into the unknown where outcomes are uncertain and risks need to be taken, it is likely there will be failures before success. Perseverance gears up the creative thinker to keep pushing through and not to give up.
Read these questions and use them to rate your overall perseverance out of 10.
The difference between try and triumph, is just a little umph!
If you rated your perseverance as low, watch out for these things that are kryptonite to endurance.
Image source: This is a Book by Demetri Martin
If you are feeling weary, overwhelmed, frustrated, or fearful, hang in there! Don't give up. Do not underestimate your power to endure. if you have run out of hope, think about this:
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie
You can do this.
Seeing that this is such an important topic and so many of us are in need of perseverance right now, we a second part to this article that will be published next week.
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