What Really is Persistence?

It gets brought up often enough, especially in the "best quality/trait" threads, so I published an article on my advice blog.


When you ask people to list a few strong traits or great qualities about themselves, every now and then the word persistent comes up. But what really is persistence? In my books, it's more than the capacity to repeat simple, auto-pilot tasks day in and day out, as though some script or mental software was running the show. Persistence, I believe, is the ability to carry on in the face of defeat and adversity, to learn from our mistakes and to cross the finish line no matter what.

It's easy to see, then, why true persistence in the face of setback is so rare. It clashes against the three things we humans are all hardwired to do: conserve energy, satisfy needs, seek safety. In other words, there are much easier roads to be walked, and it only takes one look around to prove that most of us would rather not have to embody persistence, explore the unknown, and forge our own path. Uncertainty scares us, sometimes from our first breath to our last.

But every now and then we hear a story about someone who did something against all odds, against everyone's cautionary word, perhaps even against his or her own "inner voice." What sets these individuals apart from myriad others who throw in the towel after the first knockdown, the first cut, the first round? Having studied many such persons from ancient times to today, I can confidently say that they understood and followed these two steps in the face of failure.


Fear, as most of us know it, is an illusion. At its core, almost every "fear" is the fear of failure or loss (of oneself, material belongings, loved ones, etc.). It exists only in our minds, not in reality, and by that I mean we experience it almost exclusively as a memory of the past, a possibility in the future, or both.

Past example: you recall a car accident and fear of loss (death) suddenly sets in, perhaps even causing a physical reaction such as "memory" pain.

Future example: you imagine an interview scenario in which nothing goes your way but rejection, perhaps even causing a physiological reaction such as elevated heart-rate and sweating.

Hybrid example: you're about to attempt something and just then you remember that some time last year you failed at something similar; the memory of past failure projects itself as possible future failure.

You might be wondering something along the lines of, hey, what if I'm camping and a bear attacks, or maybe something less extreme. Either way, is that not fear? Well, let's examine both the bear attack and something more people are probably familiar with: riding a roller coaster.

When a bear attacks, you simply react. The thought of death activates certain neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, which instruct your body to produce certain hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. The leads to the well-known "fight-or-flight" mode. It's a rational reaction, mentally and physically, to an event in which you either fight or run (here, I recommend running).

Likewise, when you're on a roller coaster, you are again simply reacting to each moment as it literally zips by and by. Think back to the actual ride itself. Try to recall the scariest one, which had you shaking in your pants before you even went on. You didn't have time to be afraid. Time didn't exist. You just were. Only before the ride (future projection) and afterward (past memory) did you "think" fearfully.

The point is, fear cannot exist in the Now. When we stay focused in the present moment, we eliminate this stifling shadow altogether. In the moment, there is no fear, only reaction (and hence action).


Beyond staying in the present, it takes something else to master persistence: knowing that failure does not exist. Every event we deem a "failure" is actually a lesson and a guidepost to eventual success. The only reason we call it a failure is because we mentally associate such an event with fear of failure. In other words, each failure we experience conjures memories of old failures and possibly of those still to come.

We instantly scramble from past to present to future and back, in one place physically but in a distant land mentally. Thoughts and associated feelings of loss take over. We lose ourselves to our memories and predictions under the false notion that we've lost ourselves in the moment. Once on our minds, past and future fear do, after all, feel quite real in that moment, and all the more so if we can actually observe an event in which we have "failed."

The truth is that failure exists only once we stop striving for success. If you haven't stopped, if you're still trying, then you haven't failed. Once failure is out of your vocabulary, fear of it seems to lose much of its power.

How can we be afraid of something we do not acknowledge, something that doesn't exist in our world? This shift in thinking, combined with a conscious effort to stay present (where fear in general cannot live) elevates us to a platform from which we can exert ourselves genuinely, fearlessly, and hence persistently.

We all have within us the potential to be persistent and courageous. The limiting factors always have been and will be acceptance and fear of failure. Learn to see failure for what it really is and all irrational fear associated with it will evaporate within moments. Remember also that the present moment is your fail-proof safe haven from fear, which lives only as an illusion, albeit a convincing one, in the past and the future. So next time fear starts to set in, have the courage to stop yourself and remind yourself that memories and possibilities are just that, alive only in your mind and only if you allow them to be.