Persistence is a trait that can be enhanced and developed.  Persistence is the ability to continue the path in spite of difficulty or opposition. It takes patience and hope, but the rewards will come.  The bottom line is persistence: believe in the process.

Story of Persistence

The road is not always easy.  Here is an example.  I have been working on my goal of building my up muscle and increasing the percentage of lean muscle mass.  The trainer I work with uses special tools to measure muscle mass. I have my base line percentage.  After six weeks of very hard work, the percentage of my muscle mass increased!  I was elated.  The new number was my reward for all the hard work. 

After the next six weeks, he tested me again. And, to my surprise and disappointment, I was back to my starting baseline number.  I am not sure what happened, all I know is that I was disappointed.  The hard work continued, but I went backwards on my results. That caliper is like the bathroom scale.  You can’t control the outcome, you can only control actions.

What You Can Control

I know I WILL get there and will achieve my goal.  I must continue to be persistent.  Some of the things I can control are:

• Believe in process
• Continue consistent workouts
• Have a positive attitude
• Stick with the goal
• Make changes as needed
• Try different tactics
• Learn from failures
• Track milestones
• Have pride in the work completed

What else would you add to the list?  We do have control over many things, and these are the attributes that define our future. This is the list that I need to focus on instead of the number that went back to my baseline. The bottom line is persistence: believe in the process.