I’m finding we, as a culture, don’t really use the word
PERSEVERE very often. Maybe that’s why I mistook diligence with perseverance
for so long. It’s a bit King James Bible English and it literally has the word
SEVERE in it. It doesn’t roll off our tongues quite as well as its synonyms.
But the most successful, or rather, the people who have had
the most influence in this world were able to persevere. One step at a time.
That’s what perseverance is. You focus on the minute or the hour or the day in
front of you and you speak your goals and you take another step closer to them.
We do live in a culture that values speed over perseverance. How many times in
your fitness journey has someone asked you what the special trick is? What are
you doing differently? What they are asking is, what pill or what food or what
fast solution have you found that I need to know about? I have found that the
people who ask me that question turn up their nose when I say that I eat
healthy and workout 6 days a week. They don’t have to hear that, they do not
want to travel down the rocky road (yum, ice cream) of having to persevere
indefinitely with unforeseen obstacles. They want to quick results and they
want them NOW.
NOTHING worth having comes easily. Fitness, long-term
health, meaningful relationships, successful business.
Perseverance is a common thread in the Christian Bible (and
perhaps other religious books but I am most familiar with the Bible) maybe
because it requires a bit of hope and faith. You have to be hopeful that your
hard work will pay off; you have to cling to faith in yourself that you can
overcome those tough obstacles that stand in your path.
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