The Importance Of Persistence and Perseverance

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. About life, career, motherhood, creativity, friendships, the works. Am I on the right track? What should I be focusing energy on? How can I do things differently?

Perhaps it’s the start of a new year. Perhaps the stage of life that I’m in. Perhaps a little of both. But, I feel a renewed energy toward making things happen. And, to me, a lot boils down to two very important things, that I think it’s important to dive into with you.

Persistence and Perseverance

With January in full motion, we’re all on board the train of bettering ourselves, ripening our lives for the year ahead, and goal setting. (Or, hey, whatever works for you to get you where you want to be. Here’s what works for me!) When I really think about making things happen, these two words stand out.

From a literal standpoint, they make sense.

Persistence is the continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. Perseverance is doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

From a practical standpoint, of course, they’re spot on, too. When I think of any goal I’ve achieved, persistence and perseverance are at the core. Especially with the long term ones. The opposite is true, also. When I reflect on goals I haven’t met in the past, a lack of these two can usually be attributed to main reasons why.

Here’s a few stories of persistence and perseverance that come to mind when I think of them in application.

Let’s look at Steve Jobs.

Despite dropping out of college after a semester, he sat in on classes that interested him to learn, despite not getting credit for them. He spent time discovering himself — traveling to India and even living in a commune – before co-founding Apple. He was ousted from the company he helped to found, went on to make Pixar wildly successful, then returned to Apple as an advisor, to then become CEO. He then continued to innovate at Apple and turned it into one of the most successful businesses in modern history.

He famously said, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance….Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about; otherwise, you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through.”

Now let’s look at Oprah.

She grew up in a rural town, in what could be considered a broken family environment, and faced countless hardships in her youth. She went from poverty to being named the first African American billionaire in the United States in 2003. The Oprah Winfrey Show was one of the highest-rated tv shows of its kind in television history. She’s now the Chairwoman, CEO, and CCO of her own company, Oprah Winfrey Network.

How does someone defy adversity and go from being poor to one of the most successful on earth? She is a mecca of amazing life advice but some of my favorite quotes from her are, “The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work,” and “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.”

People who defy the odds, in spite of difficulty, are so inspiring to me.

So, how to you develop persistence and perseverance? What’s the secret to tirelessly pursuing?

I’m by no means a Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey. We’re not even in the same universe. But, in my little corner of the world, I do feel like I’ve persevered and persisted through many things. (By the way, I do recognize that these are small examples compared to what others preserver through!)

Growing up, there was a lot of things to work through in my family life; I often struggled (and sometimes still do) with the realities of having divorced parents. I’ve had a job since I was 15. In my twenties I worked full time, while going to school at night, to pay my own way through graduate school while living in the city. I spent countless hours and late nights maintaining this blog for nearly 6 years before being able to dive in full time. I even started a second and different site, Wandeleur, which failed…but I never stopped trying with Isn’t That Charming.

For 4 years I was the (proud!) primary breadwinner of our family – all throughout being pregnant and having both girls – while Doug explored entrepreneurship. Doug and my’s relationship hasn’t always been easy — we’ve had periods of time when we’ve had to work on things, both as a unit and individually — but we’ve always emerged stronger than before. Motherhood presents little perseverance opportunities on the daily.

I say those examples to provide context toward the subject, mind you.

I hope you don’t read that as bragging or touting myself too much, because I will be the first person to tell you that I have so much to learn. In many ways I feel like my growth is just beginning. But, here’s what I’ve learned about practicing persistence and perseverance so far.

Know What You Want

You can’t go after it if you don’t know what you want. By this, I mean so much more than just within a career. From relationships and personal wellness, to jobs and how we spend time, it’s so important to have clarity on what you want. Without it, you may end up chasing something that you find yourself asking, “Why? What was the point? Do I actually want this?” once you get it.

Clearly Define Your Goals.

Okay, so you know what you want. What are the little, actionable goals that will help you get there? Think about them. Research. Think some more. Define them. Write them down. This definition will help for you to go after them with clear purpose.

Build Action Plans

Prioritize what’s immediate. Put a plan of action together. Be sure to consider things from the high level, but also make sure you’re thinking of application down to the actionable, tactical ways in which you will go after things.

Hold Yourself Accountable

Truth time: this is often where I falter most. I know what I want, I think I know how to get there (though, like I said, work in progress), but I don’t always hold myself accountable to my action plans. This is huge, because it’s the area in which you’re actually bringing efforts to life.

Often, we’re the only ones holding ourselves accountable, so it’s easy to prioritize things that more directly involve others. What’s helping me lately is to think, “If not now, when? If not you, who?” Keeping that top of mind usually helps to light a fire under my tush.

Pay Attention To What Motivates You

For me, it’s finding the time to think. To put on music, get into the zone, and let creativity flow. Competition is also oddly motivating to me, as well as seeing others walk the walk that I want to. I admire them for doing it, and I strive to learn from them.

I also love nature. I always find such clarity and peace, as well as refreshed motivation, after I’m by water.

Whatever your motivations are, pay attention to them, and do your best to harbor them to help you on your journey.

Form Healthy Habits

By this, I mean BALANCE. No one person can be “on” all the time. For every time where I feel like a master task-doer, there’s one where I flop on the couch and Netflix is my best friend. I’m okay with that because, for me, taking time to relax refreshes me and ends up being motivating.

Beyond that, however, to me healthy habits include turning off technology regularly. Spending time with family. Prioritizing eating healthy, to provide my body with great energy. Things like that.

I have found that, the more balanced and healthy my mind and body feel, the more I’m able to pursue my goals with intent and clarity. It’s all cyclical!

On a lighter note, let’s talk about these photos! A trend persevering right now (see what I did there?) is buttoned up denim — or, denim with can’t miss details. Be sure to swing by this link — I can’t get over all the selections! This exact pair is BCBG. I love bell bottoms paired with a bodysuit — this one is J.Crew and it’s on major sale right now! Two accessories you need right now, if you don’t have them already, are bows for your hair and anything leopard.

Back to persistence and perseverance.

I’m going to leave this post with one of my all-time favorite quotes. Doug introduced me to this years back, and we actually have this framed in our room because we love it so much.

“The Man In The Arena” – Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Now, get out there and persist and persevere this year.

Whatever it is that you want to go after…You’ve got this.