Persistence is the key to accomplishing everything. But how does it work?
When I was younger, I jokingly referred to myself, more than once, as The King of Indecision.
I spent a lot of my 20s and 30s being indecisive. I would stall, delay, and avoid choices and decisions frequently. Why? Because I didn’t want to make the wrong one.
When I started college, I did so without choosing a major. At orientation, I joked with my dad that I intended to major in procrastination and hesitation with a minor in bureaucratic red tape.
However, before registering for classes, we incoming Freshmen were told that to get what we wanted, we had to move fast. The last in line at the assigned advisor was likely to need to rely on 2nd or 3rd class choices.
That morning, I abdicated my throne as King of Indecision and was 2nd in line with my advisor. I was signed up for classes – all my first choices – by 9am. This was somewhat to my dad’s chagrin – taking me at my word, he’d been getting ready to go play a round of golf.
The lesson I should have learned from this was that by being persistent you could get what you wanted. But I didn’t make that connection. I instead proceeded to half-ass, half-decide, half-live my life for the next 20 years or so.
After yet another failed job, and another failed relationship, I paused and paid attention. What wasn’t I doing?
The answer was persistence. But before I could be persistent in any given practice – I needed to be more decisive.
Choices and decisions pave your way
I started writing when I was 9. My first love was sci-fi. Then I also fell in love with fantasy. I wrote in fits and spurts for years – but didn’t have a lot to show for it.
Some of this was due to my inability to make solid choices and decisions about where to go, what to do, who to be. I tended to make soft decisions or half-choices to avoid messing it all up. The upside, I thought, was that I could change if I saw I needed to make a change.
The downside, however, was that because I made no solid decisions or choices, I left myself wanting.
In time, I realized that being a writer was my jam. I started to blog regularly, then to work on books and self-publishing.
I began to make more solid choices and decisions. And rather than half-choose and sort-of decide, I chose and decided things. That began to change my life in a way I had always desired.
I got into a real, stable, incredible relationship – and she’s my wife now. I stopped always seeing the grass as greener elsewhere and began to practice real gratitude for what I had. As I worked on greater mindfulness, I found making choices and decisions not just easier, but far more satisfying than my previous practices.
My personal theme song, for a very long time, was U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Great song overall – but it doesn’t resonate with me at all.
While I am better with choices and decisions – I still have work to do on persistence. But that’s where I am today and what my present focus for my career is all about.
Applying choices and decisions to persistence
In 2012, I began to blog consistently once a week. I persisted in blogging, and that became 3 days a week. Now it’s 6 days a week – and adheres to a schedule.
- Monday is Positivity.
- Tuesday is ongoing writing/editing/business practices.
- Wednesday is Pathwalking.
- Thursday and Friday are mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and occasionally politics.
- Saturday is ongoing writing/editing/business practices again.
I publish all of these to Medium, and the Tue/Sat blogs on my author website and Mon/Wed blogs on my blog website.
Medium.com offered a path to earning money from all this work. While I have made back the membership fee and more – I am not yet a top earner on Medium. Nevertheless, I persist at this.
My first love when writing is sci-fi/fantasy. I have tended, for most of my life, to be a pantser (i.e. one who writes by the seat of their pants). The problem with this practice is that persistence gets clouded by a lack of direction. I have written whole novels without a complete understanding of my overarching plot.
So, I experimented with planning. I had an idea percolating in my head for a while and started to lay it out. I got a general idea, envisioned my world and timeline, and then found myself plotting chapter-by-chapter. Before I knew it, I had 4 books plotted out.
Rather than stifle my creativity – which had been my fear – this expanded it. In another 4 months, I had written 3 of those 4 books. Now, the first book in Forgotten Fodder will be available for purchase at the end of the month.
What’s more, I made choices and decided that in 2021 I was publishing 6 books total. But how would I persist and make this happen?
My persistence practices
One of the great ironies about being a Virgo is that I am not hyper-organized like others with my astrological sign. This, I suspect, is a product of my former life as the King of Indecision.
To be more accountable to myself – I began to make and follow a schedule. This schedule has made me a lot more productive. That, in turn, has made me seek to be more persistent in my work.
I broke it down to a morning list and an after-lunch list. I maintain an Excel spreadsheet – which I keep open on my desktop at all times – and mark off my goals as I achieve them every day.
Six days a week, I keep this schedule. The intent is to be persistent so that I can take this writing gig where I desire for it to go.
To be MJ Blehart – author, editor, voice-artist, and world builder – persistence is the key. To build and expand my brand requires me to keep going and persist with what I do.
Even in the face of not-quite the level of sales I desire to see of my books, nor the reads of my articles on Medium – I am expending effort. Choosing, deciding, and persisting to consciously create my reality.
Practicing persistence feels good. Even though there are days it feels like I’m chasing my tail – overall, it feels good.
One word of caution
Practicing mindfulness in anything you do is important. One reason mindfulness is so important is to make sure that you are persisting without committing to insanity.
What does that mean? As Albert Einstein is credited with saying:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”
Persistence can, unchecked, lead to the place of insanity. Often, this is because you are not mindful of feedback, changes, and all manner of outside influence and the effect it might have on what you are doing.
For example – when I was a paralegal in the early 2000s, I was reading over a deposition to summarize it. The lawyer for the other side kept asking the SAME question – over, and over, and over. No alteration, no rephrasing, the SAME question again and again. It was objected to, on the record, each time. It got so bad that the person being deposed gave the objection at one point.
Persistence or insanity? It was insanity. When you are mindful, however, you are aware in the here-and-now and can decide if you are being persistent – or carrying on without potentially necessary adaptation.
Mindfulness of your choices and decisions – and persistence in purpose – can build a life you will be excited to live. If you’re your own business, this is important to achieve any ultimate goal.
Persistence is the key to accomplishing everything. When you have a clear vision of who you are and who/what/where/why you desire to be, persistence coupled with active choices and decision-making will take you far.
As Mitch McConnell said – when he unwittingly provided the feminist movement one of its best and most powerful battle cries – which anyone and everyone should take to heart:
“Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey, for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.
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