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PERSISTENCE IS EDUCATION
The Amazing Maisie – A Crushing Success May I share a story with you about Maisie De Vore? Often called “Crazy Maisie,” Maisie De Vore, of Eskridge, KS, has realized the accomplishment of a dream she had thirty years ago. In 1971, this now 84-year-old grandmother observed that there were few activities for children in this rural town on the eastern side of Kansas, southwest of Topeka. Just about all there was to do were ball field activities, and of course not everyone could play ball even if they had been so motivated. Maisie suggested that the town build a community swimming pool – and was told that the town had no money for such a pool. How could the required $100,000 be obtained for its building? But Maisie decided she was going to find a way to build a community pool, no matter how long it took, and for 30 years she collected aluminum cans, crushed them, recycled them, and banked the money in anticipation of the day that the pool would be built. She’d walk the streets and pick up cans. She’d drive the rural roads in an old pickup and locate cans. She knocked on doors requesting them. She rummaged in people’s trash, looking not only for aluminum cans, but also for pieces of scrap metal that could be recycled and turned into money. Through four children and two husbands she persisted. Even her children were not supportive and frequently questioned her activities, suggesting that she was in for a big disappointment and that she might as well quit before that happened. She was, they said, chasing a hopeless dream. Others in Eskridge, however, had more faith in Maisie. Describing her as “not a person who gets down,” and “you can’t keep her down,” neighbors began saving their aluminum cans for Maisie, and the dollars began to grow. Asked for her perspective on the whole thing, Maisie said, “It’s all in your attitude. I’m stubborn. Once I set my mind to it, I keep plugging.” To augment her collection, she crocheted afghans, made quilts, and made jams and jellies, all of which she sold and added the proceeds to the community pool fund. By 2001, Maisie had collected, crushed, and recycled in excess of six million cans, totaling 90 tons, and had turned them into $83,000. A local fundraiser raised that to $100,000. But by 2001, the cost of the pool had risen to $173,000. The State of Kansas kicked in the remaining $73,000, and the Maisie De Vore Community Pool is now a reality in Eskridge, KS. To the tune of You Are My Sunshine, the children of Eskridge sang “Amazing Maisie,” and Maisie De Vore became the first one to take a dip in the pool, celebrating her 30-year love for kids. That’s persistence. Endurance Through Persistence Dig out a dictionary and you’ll find that to be persistent means to persevere and be tenacious. Tenacious means to be, among other things, extraordinarily determined. Maisie had a purpose, and with dogged determination, she persisted for three decades. When she made up her mind that’s what she wanted to see, she rolled up her sleeves and went to work. It’s all in the state of mind. If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don’t. It you think you’d like to win, but you can’t, It’s almost a “cinch” that you won’t. If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost. For out in the world you’ll find Success begins with a person’s will – It’s all in the state of your mind. For many a race is lost Ere even a race is run. And many a coward fails Ere even his work’s begun. Think big and your deeds will grow. Think small and you fall behind. Think that you can, and you will; It’s all in the state of your mind. If you think you are outclassed, you are. You’ve got to think high to rise. You’ve got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize. Life’s battle doesn’t always go To the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins Is the fellow who thinks he can. I’m sorry, but I don’t know the author of that. But it somehow fits the bill, it seems. Just Hang On For A Little While We never quite know what success awaits us should we hold out just a little longer. Whether in your business or your personal life, the quest for success is something that is never completed. You must begin anew every day. And the very interesting thing is that given enough time, the day improves. Picture yourself on the rocky shores of Maine in the summertime. In the morning as you look out over the water you may see the outlines of small boats at anchor, and the shadows of buildings across the shore. But the predominant feature is singular – what you see is fog. But stretch your arms toward the shore, go forward with your day, and as the temperature rises, the fog begins to dissipate, revealing images of solid color, bobbing on the waves of the incoming tide. Before you know it, you can see miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, clocking the movement of the ocean-going tankers. With the rising sun the images in every direction become clear and the pieces of the puzzle fit together into the tapestry of the success your day will enjoy, accompanied by the cacophony of sea gulls flying in every direction, chasing their daily repast. Why do we work? Would it not be easier just to lie back and “let it happen?” We work for financial sustenance, of course, but our work, to be valuable, must be a labor of love, else it is drudgery personified. “Whistle while you work,” sang the seven dwarfs. The product of your work is in reality the product of your love of the work. If you love your work, difficult situations, trying people, and unpleasant circumstances can be easily accommodated. The joy you put into your work is an expression of love for your spouse and your children. Else there would be little reason to do it. Endurance is Success and Sets Your Income I’ve said before, in another book, that the service you render will attract the money you control. The money you control establishes the future growth in the services you will render. The growth you experience is what brings an overwhelming obstacle into clear focus and into achievement. The knowledge you obtain as a means to provide that service will be an indication of the kind of persistence you invest. Gain more knowledge and you will gain more income. It’s just that simple. Endurance is success. If you’re not moving forward, you’re not standing still – you’re moving backwards. Nothing stands still. Time, your greatest physical asset, can never be recovered. You, and only you must decide how you will use it. You can waste it and go backwards. Or you can endure, persist, stay with it and pursue accomplishment across its span. Constant customer contact is what makes your business successful. Introducing the product, taking the orders, delivering the orders, and providing follow-up service will lead to outstanding successes. Yes, finding those customers in the first place may be somewhat difficult, but once you have established the contact and begin the service, your endurance will establish the income you receive. And, interestingly, your endurance begets your dependability, and we know that our customers like dependability. Again, you are the one who is in charge of your own fate. As Napoleon Hill said, your mind is the one thing that you alone can control. Only you can defeat you – and then only if and when you permit yourself to be defeated. Determine what you are going to do and do it. Let nothing – or nobody – deter you from its accomplishment. Make an appointment with success and then keep it. You do keep all your appointments, don’t you? Success is not Luck Personal success comes from the results obtain from the persistence you employ. It doesn’t happen by accident. Yes, there may be fortunate circumstances that will facilitate your progress. But luck is entirely random, whereas success is predictable. You can establish the conditions that lead to success. You can take the actions that build upon those conditions. You can assure success – sometimes with your hard work; more often simply with intestinal fortitude. Luck may be what you encounter with a win at the lottery. But even playing the lottery has its costs. Success comes from planting an idea, nurturing its growth, and harvesting the results. The idea is to keep on keeping on. The educational aspects of persistence have to do with the learning we gain from the trials we conduct. Final success may well be the result of a long-term strategy to overcome short-term defeats. If we examine those defeats carefully, we can learn more from them than we could ever learn from our victories. It is a fact that the harder you work while you’re waiting for success, the luckier you become when you finally find it. And, as previously stated, success doesn’t come to you – you must go to it. Persistence and Your Program of Personal Involvement We know a number of things about the personal involvement in persistence. Here are some thoughts worthy of consideration: · If you believe it can be done, it can be done. That belief, in and of itself, paves the way towards its accomplishment. · If you can avoid accepting the fact that others have failed, probably you will to, and be open and receptive to new ideas and opportunities, then success through your personal involvement is assured. · If you strive to improve your knowledge, your appearance, your approaches, your business activities on a regular basis, you can find success. It’s there awaiting you. · If you approach your tasks with the perspective of going the extra mile, of doing a little more, of making the extra call, of sending out the extra brochure – of taking that extra step, then in a very real way success will find you because those customers who represent that success will seek you out. · If you can do more listening than talking, more asking than pronouncing, you will gather the knowledge that leads to sound decision making, and therefore to your ultimate success. · If you will take every opportunity to expand your knowledge and your mind, you can’t help but improve your circumstances. Associate with people who can plant the seeds of new ideas. Find out what made those people successful and follow their lead. · If you can accept that there is a price to pay for accomplishing the goal you, yourself, have set and if you are willing to pay that price, there is nothing to be denied you, given the time necessary, as Maisie De Vore found, to gather and crush the cans. Persistence Requires a Commitment We are independent and free people. We get to make our own decisions. We get to live with the results of those decisions. Once in awhile, somebody makes a commitment for us in the form of a demand we must respond to. More often than not, if we produce our own demand, we can react in precisely the same way. When the Romans conquered England, it hadn’t been their first attempt to do so. On their first attempt, they were repulsed by an army of greater numbers, the Saxons. Flight was an option, so they returned to the English Channel to regroup. On the second attempt, however, they landed and brought their supplies ashore. The commanding general then ordered the boats to be set ablaze and placed adrift in the Channel, where they burned to the water line. Flight, then, was no longer an option. Thus stranded, the Romans were committed to battle and marched with resolution against the Saxons, who fled in the face of such a commitment. I call this a “no withdrawal, no retreat option.” You must get in there and do what must be done. You may well have a way to escape, but you should behave as if you do not. If you are willing to commit yourself to a course of action, the results of persistence can be yours. There is no way you can fail. Success is yours, not for the asking, but for the demanding. Demand success? You bet! Demand it of whom? Yourself. Demand it of everybody around you. Demand it because of your lack of willingness to accept anything less. Demand it because you worked for it, you deserve it, and you fully intend to enjoy what it has to offer. There are a couple other relevant things to be learned from the Roman legions. Roman soldiers wore spiked footgear. Attached to the soles of their shoes were spikes that had been set at a reverse angle. In this manner, the Roman soldier could not back up; he could go only forward. Retreat was seen as a cowardly deed, requiring the soldier to turn and “advance to the rear.” But the Roman generals had a means to thwart these efforts: death. Cowards were killed, and to reinforce the message, the Roman general would have 10% of the legion also put to death. The Latin root “deci” means “ten.” “Decimal” is a base 10 numbering system. To “decimate” meant to kill 10% of the force. In this day and age the results of cowardice are not nearly so severe, but are nonetheless just as disastrous. People who so willingly wish to give up have turned tail and run before the enemy, or at least their perception of the enemy. People who are willing to stay the course and to persist have the companionship of the remaining 90% as support in the finding of the success that is just waiting to be found. Persistence and Motivation There are four accepted principles of motivation. They are: · Self-preservation. In your business, you may well be working because it’s not an option not to do so. But self-preservation is deeper than that. It’s the instinct that has helped a hundred pound woman pick up a two-ton car that is crushing her husband. It’s the mother’s instinct to protect her children when danger confronts them. In your business life you may well invoke the instinct of self-preservation when a large debt hangs over your head and the bill collectors are calling daily. · Recognition. Working for a living is certainly a worthwhile activity, but working to live and living to work become a vicious never-ending cycle, particularly if nobody is ever aware of what we do. We strive for improvement, for recognition, for reward, as a means to boost our self-esteem and self-respect. Doesn’t do any harm if it happens to boost someone else’s respect for our efforts. · Romance. This has a lower priority in your business, no doubt, and certainly is not essential to your practice of the business itself. However, romance is but one aspect of happiness, and happiness leads to good business relationships, however that happiness is achieved. · Money. Money is our medium of exchange. We work for money with which to pay our bills, feed our families, acquire our possessions. Money may not be the only motivation to your life, but it is no doubt well ahead of whatever is in second place. Money is the scorekeeper, and by itself may make possible the self-preservation, recognition, and even the romance in your life. But interpersonal relations are also important. Every one of our customers; every associate with whom we work; every supplier from whom we obtain product or service is motivated by one or more of these four things. We know one thing from experience: treat a person as you would treat yourself, and that person’s response will be positive. Treat a person as if he or she is, and there will be no change. Treat that person as he or she could be, and these people will rise to the expectations. It would be nice if someone such as myself were available to motivate you when you need the motivation to build your perseverance. But the truth of the matter is that there is only one currently present motivator: you. You may seek divine assistance in the matter, but when the chips are down, the messages you give yourself are those messages to which you will pay attention. When you are motivated, you will achieve. When you achieve, the motivation payback occurs and persistence follows, for as you taste success you develop an appetite for more. It is your beliefs, not the benefits you will derive, that will drive |
