Introduction (Thoughts are Things)

Having completed one full reading of TAGR, its time to return to the first chapter again.

RU Darby, the man who gave up digging for gold, three feet away from success, but then learned the value of "stickability" in selling insurance provides a lesson in persistence. As Napoleon Hill says in a later chapter, without persistence you will lose, with persistence you will win. Persistence really is the difference.

A lot of books talk about the value of persistence, but its all very well saying "you should be persistent". Its a different matter actually doing it.

There are a few ways to develop persistence. I want to share one with you today: Practice persistence.

Persistence is a habit like everything else in life is. You develop the habit slowly by repeated behaviours. These behaviours must be repeated consistently and over a short period of time. (Think whether running a mile every month for 30 months, is the same as running a mile every day for a month).

Persistence can be practiced in all areas of life. I can give three very different examples:

1. Working for 1/2 hour after you feel like stopping at the end of the day
2. Persisting with the crossword even after you think you have gone as far as you can
3. Looking for a car park outside where you want to go, for a bit longer than you otherwise would.

These examples may not apply to you, but you get the gist. Its about exercising that muscle of persistence. You will find that in each of those examples, it may not happen every time, but I would predict, that most times, you will gain something from the persistence. Its uncanny how sticking in there just past the point where you think you can't go on an further tends to yield such great benefits. Try it and see.