THE VISION THAT KEPT US GOING!
MELISSA SAYS:
Ending the month of May with a BANG! <3
As some of you guys are aware of what just happened in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, "Adidas Sundown Marathon 2009"
During the process of dragging my legs to the finishing point, some thoughts surfaced.
-Perseverance.
-Friends and Encouragements.
-Determination and Strong will.
-& Believing in Yourself.
Simple words and thoughts. But carries alot of meanings to it. :/
Anyways, these are phrases that was heard along the race:
- Someone asked me at the point that I started walking,"Are you regretting now?"
I told him straight in the face,"I never regretted in the things I do."
- "Don't worry about the timings, as long you finish the race, you're a winner."
- "I'm no quitter!"
- "God has blessed you with strength, so finish the marathon!"
So, as I passed the finishing gantry, I was so relieved.
What I thought I could never finish before, I have finally completed.
Because, I have always failed my NAPFA 2.4km for 5years straight!
So; Believe it or not. Nothing is impossible with GOD! ♥
____________________________________
A special message of perseverance.
"He conquers who endures." -Persius
A determined mind and strong will to finish something.
Perseverance and failure cannot coexist. Failure happens when you quit.
When all is said and done, perseverance, commonly referred to as "stick-to-itiveness,"
is the ultimate success insurance. Nothing can take its place.
11 Ways To Raise Your Perseverance Quotient:
1. Be grown up, which means, be independent, take responsibility for yourself.
When you step out, take risks, and succeed some people may be envious or fearful that they're "losing" the former you. This can cause them to be critical of your new aspirations and plans. They become "dream stealers." When you are overly concerned about what your family, friends and acquaintances might say, you might lose your drive to persevere and let your dreams fade away.
2. Intentionally select positive re-enforcement.
When you purchase books and tapes, movies and other media for your entertainment, seek those with strong, uplifting themes. Select those which nurture your spirit. Avoid as much negative messaging as possible, including other outside influences that bring you down. For instance, why would you choose to read a magazine article or watch a news program that leaves you depressed or angry? For those times when negativity unavoidably invades your space, find something to learn from it or something humorous about it. When someone hands you the thorns, find the roses!
3. Live healthy.
Energy and stamina are musts for perseverance. You need them for focus, resilience, optimism, self-confidence, clarity and intensity.
4. Ask, "What is true?" not "What do others think is true?"
To make effective decisions, you must take the responsibility of perceiving reality as accurately as possible. Decision-making is not a popularity contest and there's definitely no guarantee that what the majority thinks or believes is compatible with the truth. When you seek the truth, you're being true to yourself. When you're true to yourself, you nourish your will to persevere.
5. When getting advice, consider the source.
If you want to shorten the distance from perseverance to achievement, you want to learn from the mistakes of others, rather than repeating them yourself. And you want to use the methods that have brought others the success you seek.
- If you're planning to climb Mt Everest, who will you look to for advice? The best source is someone else who has done it!!
- If you want to pilot an airplane, would you listen to advice from Aunt Matilda who has never done anything in her life more demanding than entering a Bridge contest? Would you ask your accountant? Your best friend? Or would you seek advice from someone who is a successful pilot?
- If you wanted to start a small business, would you seek advice from someone at work, your minister, a university professor, a corporate person, or from someone who is already successful in the business?
And here's a fascinating corollary: if you are looking for a way out, an excuse to quit, you need go no farther than Aunt Matilda, your accountant, the folks at work, etc. You'll get all the negative encouragement necessary to put your dream back on the shelf.
6. Avoid the "no action" alibi. We've all been guilty from time to time of using convenient alibis for not persevering.
Eric Hoffer, who had spent much of his life as a "simple" longshoreman, is a great example of someone who didn't let other people's stereotypes, which he could have used as no-action alibis, prevent him from becoming a best-selling philosopher-author. And Eric Hoffer says it well: There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday.
"But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything, we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book and not painting a picture and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement."
The important thing is to be totally honest with ourselves; recognize the alibi for what it is and not make alibis a way of life.
7. Identify counterproductive habits or thoughts you would like to abandon. Then dump them!
Being mentally or emotionally rigid means that you hang on to habits that no longer serve you, habits that can make you unproductive, frustrated, unfulfilled.
Examples of counterproductive habits that may reduce your will to persevere:
---Grousing about politics, work or the neighbors with friends
---Blowing small aggravations out of proportion
---Dwelling in the past
---Worrying about stuff that may not even happen, or that you cannot control
---Viewing yourself as a victim
---Worrying about what others are doing or what others have.
"Be true to yourself."
Focus on what you can do, not what you cannot do. When you focus on what you cannot do, you get more of it! Remember the story of "The Hare and the Tortoise." Live the life YOU want to live; earn what YOU want to earn; do what YOU want to do. Don't be too concerned about how others are living their lives.
8. Willingly forgive yourself and others.
Do this for your own sake, your own peace of mind. Carrying around the emotions of grudges, disapproval, hatred, or disappointment is toxic to your spirit of perseverance. Whether the subject person is someone else or yourself, you are the one feeling the wound. You don't hurt others when you hold hatred toward them; you hurt yourself. And you can hurt yourself seriously by allowing hatred to fester in your consciousness. You can't experience anger and joy at the same time---so leave plenty of room for the joy!
9. Take reasonable risks.
Without risk, there's no reward. Risk avoidance dampens the spirit, undermining the will to persist in the face of obstacles and reversals. The choice not to choose is probably one of the riskiest choices you can ever make, with zero upside potential!
10. Get support.
You deserve to be around folks supportive of your aspirations.
11. Don't quit.
This shall need no more explanations. Just follow.
Perseverance Quotes"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."
-Henry Ward Beecher
"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."
-Author Unknown
"When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
-Author Unknown
"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."
-Author Unknown
"Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."
-Josh Billings
"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did."
-Newt Gingrich
"The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running."
-Author unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11:
"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
"You can't go through life quitting everything. If you're going to achieve anything, you've got to stick with something."
-Family Matters, Television Show.
"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."
-Walter Elliott, The Spiritual Life
"But the moment you turn a corner you see another straight stretch ahead and there comes some further challenge to your ambition."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
"Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock."
-Author Unknown
"I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday."
-Author Unknown
"One may go a long way after one is tired."
-French Proverb
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines."
-Robert Schuller
"Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer."
-Author Unknown
"A door opens to me. I go in and am faced with a hundred closed doors."
-Antonio Porchia
"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
-William Feather
"Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting."
-Christopher Morley
Lastly,
Do what you love to do. Stand up for what you believe in. Make it a part of your life. Work toward it every day. Remember with every "No" you are that much closer to a "Yes" And by learning from each defeat and staying the course, success is inevitable.
