Today is one of those days where I can’t think of anything compelling to write; however, I have made a commitment to my writing that I will not fail.
Despite the tangible feeling of inertia trying to hold me back, I persist. Why? Because that is how winning is done.
“I don’t feel like it” doesn’t get a vote. “Not today” doesn’t get to take the wheel. “I need a break” can wait until tomorrow.
Winning is done inch by inch. Winning is done through all those little decisions that you do or do not make every single day and accumulate to success.
For me, today was one of those days where I was staring at a blank Google document and couldn’t come up with a topic to write about, which doesn’t make sense because I currently have a list of 50+ articles I want to write.
The truth was laziness wanted a seat at the table, I gave it a seat at the table, and it cost me half of my writing session before I threw laziness back out the door.
Instead of beating myself up over my weakness, I recognized it for what it was so I can more easily recognize it next time, and started typing words. I just typed the words that started coming to my head rather than pulling out one of the articles on my list.
Laziness is still dogging my footsteps but I’m moving too fast for it to catch me, which is how you overcome laziness–don’t let it catch you.
Why Persistence Is Important
One of my goals is to be a traditionally published novelist. I recently read a book called Architecture of the Novel and one section that hit me hard was a short discussion on how most bestsellers are written by extremely ordinary people who just showed up to write day after day, week after week, and year after year.
We call this consistent action persistence.
Another time the word “persistence” hit me was in the film The Founder, which followed Ray Kroc and the genesis of McDonald’s. He was constantly working toward building a successful business but hit nothing much besides failure until the age of 52 when he got going with McDonald’s. The film showed him listening to a 1950s self-help record talking about how persistence, showing up and not giving up, is how one achieves success in life.
I looked it up to see if it was a real audiobook, but alas it wasn’t; however, it was inspired by the dearth of self-help literature from the 1950s, which is the foundation of all of today’s self-help books. (I recommend checking out a few of the classics from the 1950s).
Why I Am Clinging Onto Persistence In My Life Right Now
I‘m going through one of those challenging seasons in life right now, one of those seasons that all of us face. Thankfully, I still have my health and family. But the money is tight, and I have my health despite myself–poor diet, low-to-no exercise, and overweight.
When I look at the path ahead, the path that leads to positive outcomes for me and my family, I see nothing but hard, hard work. The kind of hard work that requires 4:30 AM wake ups, long working hours at intense outputs, and crawling into bed from exhaustion with little R&R. The only way I can achieve a positive outcome in my life right now is through persistence.
Have you ever been in a situation like this in life?
If you are I’m glad you are here because then we can take a journey to a better future together. This is an old school blog that does things like that–pours out my soul, showing I’m not a guru, striving to make improvements, and inviting others to do the same.
What Are Your Goals?
Our goals don’t even have to be the same. Sometimes it’s good just to know there are others out there that are striving forward too.
For me, it’s pretty simple:
- Build up blogging income to $1,000 per month
- Finish my novel and send it out to publishers
- Earn an additional $1,000 per month on the side
- Get health through health diet and exercise, reaching 206 lbs (The healthiest and fittest I’ve ever been in life I was 206 lbs, while it sounds heavy, I’m also 6’4″).
- Keep working hard at my day job so I can keep it.
These are my initial goals. I will grow upon them. Once I hit $1,000 per month blogging, I will set my sights higher because it is my ultimate goal to be a full time writer via blogging, books, and other writing projects.
How Are You Going To Maintain Your Persistence?
I worked out this morning. I set my alarm at 5:00 AM but didn’t shake off the cobwebs until about 5:19 AM. I gave serious consideration to going back to bed, fortunately, I didn’t. It was a close call though.
I know I won’t win that battle every single day, so an adjustment is needed to maintain persistence. My solution is I plugged in a 2nd alarm that is set on top of my dresser. I will have to get out of bed to turn it off. The alarm is noisy and set one minute after my phone alarm, which is on the nightstand next to the bed. The phone alarm wakes me up and then I have one minute to turn off the 2nd alarm before it goes off and wakes up the entire neighborhood. And since I don’t want that to happen, it will make sure I get out of bed without going through a mental struggle sessions each morning.
Sometimes the best choice to make is to eliminate choice.
I find that when I start my day with a win, such as getting out of bed and performing a workout, I continue to accumulate wins throughout the day. My willpower and discipline grow throughout the day, rather than weaken. If I start my day weak the entire day is often weak. I’m sure a psychologist could explain why that is.
Regardless, persistence is a choice, but it is also setting yourself up for success at critical junctures when you are weak. Right now for me, that’s a 2nd alarm clock. For you it may be something else.
I would suggest looking at those points of weakness in your life and ask yourself, how can I make this an easy win? Or at least how can I make it easier to make the positive decision that I know I need to make?
There’s a long road ahead! And I know we will find success, friend!