Persistence and Patience: Keys to Success

Bouldering. 2010. 

At times we may feel that no matter how much we do, we just aren´t making progress, and that can be extremely discouraging. That’s when we need to keep in mind that the results of our efforts are rarely instantaneous. When you plant a seed and water it daily, it’s spreading its roots, even though you cannot see it. Until it sprouts, you must have faith in the natural process that is taking place below the surface of the soil, and that is invisible to the eye. 

Life is very similar. You go on a diet and of course you don´t lose ten pounds on the first day. But as you reduce your caloric intake and increases the energy expenditure through exercise, your metabolism changes and one fine day you realize your pants are loose!

You send out resumes, go to job interviews, and a few months later you receive several job offers.  

When you think your efforts are worthless, focus on the success of actually making the effort. Results are out of your hands, but the more you do, the greater your likelihood of achieving your goals.

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But .. that´s SO hard!

“Oh, but... That´s SO hard!”

Have you ever said it as an excuse not to do something you would really like to?
A difficulty should not be an obstacle. Writers have to get used to “difficulty” and rejection if we want one day to enjoy an acceptance or even a request to write.
Not to brag, but I have fifteen books published. Not all of them were accepted the first time around, however. I Feel Fat received several rejections, because “nobody knows what bulimia is”, and because “it isn´t an interesting subject”. The Challenge of Writing and Publishing was rejected because “people who write think they know it all” and “who is going to read a book about how to write?” My novel Voice Mail received many rejections, and one publisher offered to take it as long as I made the main characters gay men instead of lesbians. I said no, and knocked on other doors. Then a better publishing house took it without my having to make any changes.
The positive side of rejection and of persistence, no matter how difficult it may seem, is that when rejection or difficulty happens again down the road, you know it is circumstantial. Then you take it in stride, because you know everything is not lost. All it takes is for one person or in my case, one publisher to say yes. Besides, now when I get a rejection I tell myself that when I have my own reality TV show, they will even want to publish my blogs. And of course, that would be really hard! Or then again … would it?

PS.- In the picture, with my kids at the Madrid Book Fair in 2006. I miss it!

http://www.lorrainecladish.com/

Persistence - one step at a time.

Have you ever felt despair, desolation, sadness, frustration, anger, hopelessness? Good, that means you are alive! Most of us have felt one or all of the above at a given moment in life, or every day for a while ...There is nothing wrong with that. What matters is what you do with those feelings and how you respond to them. When faced with loss, challenges and change, we are presented with the biggest opportunity to find out who we really are and the stuff we´re made of.

I don´t have a “holier than thou” outlook, nor do I believe that suffering is the pathway to heaven. I can affirm that the many challenges I have faced in life and how I responded (and respond) to them have taught me a lot about me. I know that even if I lose ground temporarily in the face of adversity, I don´t give up. Rejection, loss, bad news … does temporarily bring me down. I´m human! But it does not pin me down. I know that persistence pays, and that even when I may believe everything is lost, in fact nothing is lost. I look inside and see how much strength and compassion I have gained and then I get a second wind, and keep on going.
Because I have a track record of getting up and dusting myself off after every fall, I believe in myself. Not always, not every second of the day, but for the most part, I do. The biggest favor we can do ourselves is to be persistent. It is the only way to overcome obstacles, to achieve goals and to gain self-respect. For some people, it is the only way to live.
What have your biggest challenges taught you about yourself?

http://www.lorrainecladish.com/