One of the 7 Keys to Success

I Will Persist Without Exception

            In 1858, a man was defeated in his run for U.S. Senate. Now, this happens all the time, but you may want to know that it was this man’s eighth time he had been defeated in an election. As he realized his defeat, this man thought back to about twenty-seven years earlier, when all had been going well for him. He’d had a decent job, he’d had direction in his life, and he’d had a future. Nothing could go wrong for him—but everything did. After losing his job, he failed in business. On top of that, his fiancé died, and he had suffered a nervous breakdown, and he had been rejected for a land officer position. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I was that man in 1858, I would have quit. But this man had the persistence not to.

            Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1860, and in office, he freed the slaves, won the Civil War, and kept together a nation that was falling apart. If Lincoln would have quit that day in 1858, we likely would not be a United States, and slavery would probably still be common and acceptable in our society today. Even after his election and successes, Lincoln bore many failures. More than one of his sons died, he was despised and criticized by many, and was assassinated in 1865. But Lincoln kept going, and he undoubtedly changed the world forever.

            Of course, we have all had failures. Lucille Ball, who later became the first woman to run a major television studio, was once dismissed from drama school because she was “too shy”. Thomas Edison was called crazy as he tried over two-thousand times before finally inventing the first incandescent light bulb. Michael Jordan was cut from his high-school basketball team, only to later become the most talented basketball player of all time. Walt Disney, who won seven Emmy Awards and twenty-two academy awards, was once fired from a newspaper company for “lacking imagination." Any person who has been successful in this world has failed more than once. The only people who do not fail are those who do not live. Now, you may be thinking, why am I talking so much about failure? Why does failure even matter? Well, you’re right. It doesn’t. What matters is what we do because of failure.

            One book I read this month was called “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. In this book, a fictional character named David Ponder is taken on a journey to see several people from world history. The last person David meets on this journey is the angel Gabriel, who talks to David about persistence. From the angel, David learns that being persistent means having faith that all will be well and that faith is the key to persistence. He learns that giving up does not create any positive results, and that the only way to have success in life is to be persistent.

            I myself find, in my personal life, that persistence is the best way to go when I am having a hard time. What especially helps me is seeing others persist and succeed. Robert Frost once said, “The best way out is always through.” I have seen in my life that this is so true. There is no way to success through any shortcut or easy way. You have to work for what you get, and persistence without exception is an important key to success.

            From the mouth of many other witnesses this principle has been taught. Winston Churchill put it like this: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” James A. Michener said, “Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.” Jesus Christ even taught this principle by teaching, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

I would like to tell another story about a man who possessed the virtue of persistence. Steve Jobs lived not too long ago, and in case you aren’t aware, he was the co-founder of the company called Apple. Jobs came out with his first attempt at a business computer in 1980, and it was called the Apple III. It came into the market with countless issues, and it was abandoned a few years later. Next, Jobs tried “Lisa” in ’83, but at ten-thousand dollars, barely anyone could afford it. The list of attempts and fails goes on and on for Jobs, but not once did he give up trying to design a computer that would work.

Look at what has happened now because of Steve Jobs. Apple is thriving, earning so much money each day that it is hard to count. The technology that Jobs has helped discover is hard to imagine. At the time of Jobs’ death, he had owned an estimated net worth of seven billion dollars. How much more successful can you be? However, none of this would have come about if it hadn’t been for persistence. It has been proved time and time again that with persistence, one cannot fail, and one cannot succeed without it.

I would like to encourage you. When you feel sad, depressed, or you just feel like a failure, always remember persistence. Remember people like Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs. Remember all of the failures that they had, and remember how they persisted. Always remember that because of persistence, they found success. That is how I know that persistence is one of the most important keys to success.