We all want to know what the secret is.
What magic pill to take to achieve success.
Look around and see a society obsessed with get-rich-quick schemes, crypto crazes, and kitten NFTs. All of them alluring, but none of them with enough substance to persist absent emotionally charged prose.
Conversely, the real key to success is something we already know and understand, but dismiss, as it exists on a less exciting time horizon: perseverance.
Perseverance despite success, failure, or circumstance. For we can get dejected when things don’t go as planned and give up; or we can experience success and lose momentum, choosing instead to rest on our laurels. However, true success comes from perseverance through adversity. Simply look at the story of any successful figure in history and I’m willing to bet you’ll note perseverance as a defining characteristics.
“When we see that you’re just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you’re going to make it, no doubt about it.”
Paul rightly identifies the Corinthian Church’s ability to persist despite circumstances as a mark of their maturity and staying power, and commends them for it.
While we too may enjoy the good times, we have often buck at the first signs of difficulty. We errantly identity the struggles (which are inherent in any effort) as totems from the heavens signifying the project’s impending doom. Time and again we concede achievable victories because we jealously notice a get rich quick scheme out of our peripherals and jump ship. We instead need to forego these flawed notions of short-circuited success and fully commit to the requisite time and effort. For it is not only the destination, but the journey that brings about the reward we so desire.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
The secret as we long ago divined, is there is no secret. Success comes to those who relentlessly pursue it despite circumstances. Let go of the tempting lies in your head and settle in for the long-haul.