One of the most powerful qualities a person can possess which has the potential to catapult them into a higher orbit of life is persistence.
It is that driving force that is obvious in anybody who has ever achieved anything of greatness in their lives.
That achievement may be in business, politics, sports, the arts and any other calling that you can think of.
Persistence is a quality that the vast majority of people appear not to possess (or if they do, they choose to not use it).
This goes some way to explain why only a very few individuals achieve such lofty heights of greatness while the masses look on in awe, wonder and often envy.
Some see this quality in others as stubbornness, pig-headedness or even obstinacy.
Yet, it is the defining factor in any great success and without it, success at anything would be virtually impossible.
So how does a person manifest this quality in themselves and how do they put it to good use?
First let's look at what persistence as a character quality actually is:
Another word for this quality is "tenacity" and it is often described as a relentless drive to realize a goal to the exclusion of all else.
A tenacious person sets their sights on a certain goal and then they work at reaching it without stopping and without ever losing sight of it. It is that powerful inner drive responsible for all great human achievements.
The simple fact is that every human being is in possession of this quality. Most just simply do not use it.
However, it is there for anyone to reach out to and embrace if they have a mind to want it. And that is the restriction placed on its realization.
Most people are simply either unaware they have this ability or they are too lazy to put it to use.
When a person decides they have grown tired of experiencing mediocre results, they experience a shift in consciousness that opens the door to greater possibilities. One of those is the acquisition of tenacity.
It is born out of a burning desire to have a thing and it takes its form when a person starts working toward the thing desired in such a manner as to become an almost obsessive drive to get it. It is often seen as stubbornness and even obstinacy, but a person with this quality drives themselves forward with relentless ambition to achieve their goal and have the thing that is so earnestly desired.
A person who has opened this particular door in their mind now has at their disposal the means to win where without it, they would certainly lose.
So many people start out with a goal in mind but along the way are faced with obstacles that can seem difficult or even impossible to surmount. Most people get to the point where they think they are beaten and they quit.
But a few more determined individuals come up against an obstacle and instead of throwing in the towel, they keep at it until they have found a way past the obstacle. To a truly successful person, there are no obstacles that cannot be surmounted and the word "impossible" is not in their vocabulary.
To most people, the kind of overwhelming defeat that would cause them to give up is viewed as merely a temporary setback to the truly persistent person. It is but a stepping stone to greater things, or a lesson to learn from along the path to success.
When you go after a goal persistently and with every intention of succeeding no matter what, you will achieve that goal no matter what.
Persistence is that quality of character that propels a person onward and upward in life.
This is the magical elixir that a handful of truly great and successful individuals possess that everyone else sees as "a lucky break" or "sheer good fortune" or some other ethereal force involving the law of attraction that is bestowed upon the chosen few and not on them.
In truth, everyone can do this if only they had faith in their ability to do it and the determination to put it into practice to achieve any ends they so desire.