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[PeterA]

Q => the "5th" Attribute for SUCCESS?

Hello Partners:

With your permission, I'd like to share a thought with you.

In the past, I've written on a number of International Forums what I thought were the 4 attributes we needed to have - in order to reach SUCCESS - in our jobs / businesses / professions / careers -- and in our lives. These were...

(1)-- Having a big DREAM - for what we want to - BE / DO / HAVE

(2)-- Having a burning core DESIRE stirring in our belly

(3)-- Having a powerful BELIEF-- in ourselves - our businesses - our futures

(4)-- Having the courage to 'get out of our comfort zones' -- to put forth the ACTION

In my own opinion, these were the KEY attributes => the Dream -- the Desire -- the Belief -- the Action.

Well, I now think (know) I was wrong.

I missed a critical 5th attribute that is absolutely necessary for lasting Success.

I should have included it.

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That 5th attribute is => PERSEVERENCE -- and I'd like to expand on it...
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We've all heard that success in 'any' field is made up of - 10% inspiration - and 90% perspiration.

Most successful people will vouch for the truth of this -- and that it's not their genius or any special abilities.

It's their stubborn "perseverance".

Classic among them is Thomas Edison, who is famously cited as having made close to 10,000 experiments before he came up with a workable electric light bulb.

I believe we have to ask ourselves => just how many times are WE prepared to fail - before we finally succeed?

How many 'experiments' are WE prepared to make in order to finally win through - and succeed -- 10 - 100 - 1000 - 10,000 ?

The sad truth is that most people give up, and QUIT after only a 'small' handful of attempts.

In fact, many give up at the very first or second attempt -- instead of 'using' failure as a lesson learned -- and then push on.

There is NO Magic Formula for this -- and it is different for each and every one of us.

The pages of history are littered with examples of those who faced failure after failure after failure -- through fires, floods, phobia, addiction, handicap, poverty, ignorance, disease - and even 'multiple bankruptcy' -- and STILL managed to carry on to Success.

Here are a few examples...

= Johnny Cash - fought a heroin addition for most of his adult life, but still wrote his name in Country Music's Hall of Fame.

= Willie Nelson - went bankrupt, owing the IRS over 16 million dollars, but bounced back, created new material - and performed at the Ground Zero Memorial.

= Richard Branson - has been close to bankruptcy - more than once - but never let it get in the way of building his 'Virgin Empire'.

= Soichiro Honda - lost his factory - and his fortune - through US Airforce bombing raids several times before you and I had heard his name -- and he had created a company with a reputation for excellence all around the world.

= Robbie Burns - was an alcoholic - yet is still remembered fondly, and celebrated, by his countrymen all over the world.

= John Bunyan - was imprisoned for being a religious non-conformist - before he began writing "Pilgrim's Progress".

= Charles Atlas - began life as a skinny kid from Brooklyn - but rose to become the world's strongest man.

= "Sly" Stalone - also grew up as a skinny kid in "Hell's Kitchen" - and you know the rest of that story.

= Mohammed Ali (aka Cassius Clay) - was another skinny kid (from Louiseville) - who became Heavyweight Champion - of the World.

= Helen Keller - was blind - and deaf, yet her story of achievement has became one of the world's great inspirations.

= Beethoven - and Thomas Edison - were also deaf - but they still made themselves 'heard' in the world.

= Henri Toulouse-Lautrec - had a horse-riding accident at a young age that left him deformed - but it didn't stop him painting all those memorable images for which he is still famous.

= Lyman Frank Baum - was born with a weak heart - yet struggled through life to finally give us his masterpiece that was - "The Wizard of Oz".

= Richard Buckminster Fuller - his first child died in infancy - he was heart-broken - bankrupt -discredited - jobless - and on the brink of suicide -- before he realized that his life belonged not to 'him' - but to the universe -- and stepped back from the brink to give us, amongst other things, the Geodesic Dome.

= Henry Ford - was born into grinding poverty and ignorance - and so was Napoleon Hill -but they both mastered these twin evils and came through to write their names in the pages of history. When Napoleon Hill, as a young reporter, first went to interview Ford in 1908 - to find out just what it was that made men rich - Hill admitted that he could discover nothing in Mr Ford's character -- except that perseverance - or persistence - that set him apart from any other man. Ford had no rich family connections - and precious little schooling -- so it seems you can go a very long way on nothing more than raw "perseverance" .

These -- and hundreds of 'other' inspirational stories -- can be illustrated to show us the awesome power - of VISION - of gut-level DETERMINATION - and of steadfast PERSEVERANCE .

Whatever other resources we may feel WE lack -- "perseverance" IS always there -- just like courage -- for the taking.

NATURE itself, offers us the ultimate example of perseverance -- in the form of - WATER. They even wrote a song about it called -- "Old Man River". All we need to do is - watch as it flows down stream - and observe how it makes its way past all OBSTACLES. It 'finds ways' to flow - over - under - around - or even through the obstacles it encounters -- and it just keeps on 'rolling along' -- it 'fights on' -- just like the WARRIOR..

Where there is a WILL => there's always a WAY.

It is my belief that "perseverance" and "failure" cannot COEXIST.

Failure happens ONLY when we => Q-U-I-T.

We must never - never - never - never - never - ever => QUIT our pursuit.

AND THIS IS ESPECIALLY SO AS WE CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER => IN PURSUIT OF THE ULTIMATE GOAL => TIME Freedom - FINANCIAL Freedom.

Thanks for the privilege of sharing here.
 
To y/our Success, Prosperity and Happiness. :-) 

Sincerely, Peter A.