Summary: Today we are talking about 8 Tips to Help you Maintain Persistence and Increase Business Success. Persistence is the ability to continue to get up no matter how many times you’ve been knocked down. It requires will power, flexibility, strength of character, determination, and a desire to succeed at all costs. Most people believe Richard Wagner became a great composer because he was gifted. Not so. From a young age, Wagner liked the theater and music, but he disliked being on stage and was a slow learner at the piano. But his lack of talent was overcome by great persistence. At the age of 15, Richard Wagner decided he wanted to be a composer, so he checked a book out of the library on the subject and memorized it. To train his ear, he asked a violinist from the Leipzig Orchestra to teach him about keys and chords and learnt the technique of every orchestral instrument except the harp. As well, he studied the works of Beethoven to understand how to capture sounds and interpret them as sheet music. But Wagner’s early works were so bad he was jeered offstage. After one of his first performances, he was forced to escape by the rear doors to avoid an enraged audience. In his persistence to hone his musicianship, he studied the works of Mozart and Bach line by line until he could construct a lyrical phrase. Over the next 5 years, Wagner continued to re-learn the basics, appearing as often as he could to showcase the music he’d written. Following literally hundreds of performances where he was jeered and heckled off stage, he gradually began to appreciate what sounds his audiences liked to hear and write his music accordingly. If Wagner had not been determined to create music his audiences could appreciate, we would never have known some of the great masterpieces, such as “Flight of the Valkyries”. If there was one common denominator that could be applied to successful people, it would be persistence. The brilliant minds, the great achievers, the magnetic leaders of our generation and throughout history did not achieve their success at the start of their journey – they achieved it when their vision became reality. Persistence is about having a vision and working towards that goal. However, if you study the path most visionaries have taken to achieve their goals, you’ll discover that persistence lies in holding on to the vision, not on the path they chose to achieve their vision. Persistence without purpose is useless. Dogged determination to adhere to a plan that is not getting you to where you want to go IS NOT persistence. Being persistent means having the strength and flexibility to stop and take stock when you become aware your efforts are not getting results. The value of persistence lies in maintaining your goal while re-positioning yourself to get there without continually hitting your head against a brick wall. So, what can you do to maintain persistence? Here are 8 tips to help you persist, so you can have a higher probability to achieve all of your goals: 1. Maintain your Vision Decide what you want out of life, and then work with a vision for the future. Keep your goal firmly planted in the front of your mind, so that every action step you take will lead you closer to achieving what you want. 2. View Setbacks as Life Lessons Nobody achieves their goals with one straight shot at the target. Understand there will be setbacks, failures and mistakes but don’t let a negative or sideways step move you off the path. Mistakes are merely “life lessons” so view each backward or sideways step as an opportunity to learn. 3. Act with Courage Don’t allow fear of failure to stop you. As human beings, we all fail from time to time. It’s the winners who get back up and start again. Act with courage and determination to achieve the things you want in life. 4. No doesn’t mean always “No” (in a business situation) There will always be those who will try to discourage and dishearten you. There will also be those w
