“If were asked to give what
I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be
this: Expect trouble as an inevitable/predictable part of life and when it
comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, I will be
bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.” Ann Landers
“The possibilities of what
life can be if a person has a goal in mind, then puts his or her heart, soul,
and mind into meeting the goal.” “Decide what you want out of life; look on the
positive side; and never give up until you achieve it.” Bill Porter
“I feel all these setbacks
were tools for me to learn from. I used them as stepping-stones and didn’t see
them as failures. A failure is when you stop trying, and I never did that.” Tom Monaghan
“Nothing comes easy, you
have to work hard for everything. And no matter how small your voice is, I believe
you can make a difference.” Laura-Beth Moore
“I knew
instinctively/unconsciously that my unyielding/firm drive was my most important
asset. Perseverance will always be just as important – important as talent.
Never stop believing! Never give up! Never quit! Never.” Joan Rivers
“I persevered against the
odds/probability and against the rules because I believed in my dreams. It
would have been more difficult for me to live with that unfulfilled passion
than it was to fight to make it happen.” Shirley
Muldowney
Your
Personal Action Plan: Perseverance Rewards Your Efforts
“Never…Never… Never quit”
Step 1: Focus on Your
Goal
Unstoppable achievers keep
their eyes on the target at all times. They often use visual keys to remind
them through the day of goal they’re working toward. Olympic gold medalist
Bruce Jenner arrange his entire apartment so it would remind him everyday of
his goal and since the high hurdle was his weakest skill, he placed a hurdle
right in the middle of the living room, where he had to step over it as many as
30 times a day.
Action: Create a constant
reminder of your goal. By now, I’m hoping you’ve identified your purpose,
written your statement of calling, and created a dream that evokes your
passion. The next step is to keep that dream and the goals that support it at
the forefront of your mind. Here are just a few of the many ways you could do
so:
Write your statement of calling and goals
on note cards or Post-It Notes and strategically place them throughout your
house and office.
Record your statement of calling and goals
on an audio cassette and play the tape as you’re driving chores, resting, or
meditating.
Put your goals on the screen saver of your
computer.
Sir Isaac Newton was asked
how he discovered the law of gravity and he replied, “ By thinking about it all
the time.”
Step 2: Accept Failures
as Learning Experiences
“Our greatest glory is not
in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” Confucius
Unstoppable people don’t
believe in failure. They see mistakes as opportunities to learn and develop new
skills and strategies, not as failure. Failure implies waste, that nothing has
been gained. On the contrary, people can gain much from every mistake and
setback along the road to success. Mistakes and failures are inevitable/predictable
and even essential; they are evidence of action – that you are doing something.
The more mistakes you make, the greater your chance of succeeding. Failures
indicate a willingness to experiment and take risks. Unstoppable people know that
each failure brings them a step closer to achieving their dreams.
“Many people dream of
success. To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and
introspection. In fact, success represents the 1 percent of your work that
results from 99 percent that is called failure.” Soichiro Honda
Honda has said that hundreds
of other achievers have said before him. You may remember that Edison said he would have invented the light bulb without
first failing at 4,000 experiments. Being able to see failure as an opportunity
for learning and improvement is critical to becoming unstoppable. People who
can’t bear a moment of failure have doomed themselves to mediocrity, for
they’ll never be able to push themselves past a point that is uncomfortable or
unfamiliar. Yet it is beyond that point where success dwells.
“If you’re not willing to
risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” Jim Rohn
Step 3. Be Patient –
Cultivate a Long-Term Mentality
We live in a society that
demands and has grown accustomed/familiar to instant gratification/fulfillment.
Most people today lack the persistence necessary to achieve their goals.
Unfortunately, there are no fast-food outlets serving up our dreams. Achieving
your dream takes time. Every moment you are working, you can take comfort in
realizing you are moving closer and closer to your dream. That work, the
journey itself, is the adventure and half of the reward. Don’t shortchange it.
“Don’t let me ever hear you
use the word ‘impossible.’ If I’ve learned anything over the course of my
career, there’s no such thing as impossible. Overnight, the impossible may not
be possible. But over time, the impossible certainly becomes possible.” Earl Graves
Step 4: Never Quit
Ann Landers advises us to
“expect trouble as an inevitable/unavoidable part of life. When it comes, hold
your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, “I will be bigger than
you. You cannot defeat me.” Pursue your dream with confidence and never, never,
never quit. If you don’t give up, you simply cannot fail. Not only will you
achieve your dream, but the combination of your commitment, courage, and faith
will rise as the greatest triumph of all.
“It took me fifteen years to
discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by
then I was too famous.” Robert Benchley
Your
Legacy: A Bold Unstoppable Spirit!
Regardless of the success
you may be currently experiencing, you believe deep in your soul that you are
destined for far greater things.
It is important to realize
that you possess everything you need to achieve your own unique form of
greatness – whether you desire to be an outstanding professional, entrepreneur,
citizen, or parent. Like other known people, you too can become unstoppable. By
taking responsibility for your life and your future and refusing to allow any
circumstance/situation, no matter how formidable/frightening, to be an excuse
for failure, you can create your own unstoppable legacy.