Patience And Tenacity Of Purpose Are Vital In Achieving Personal Goals

By Debra Nelson


The history of mankind is littered with individuals that had a lasting impact upon society. There were legendary fighters, leaders, scientists and artists that all changed the way humans think for centuries to come. Many academics wondered whether all these people shared certain traits and whether there are actually traits that are vital to success. It turns out that there are. Among other important characteristics, patience and tenacity of purpose seems to be the vital ingredients of success.

A patient person is defined as someone that has the ability to deal with adversity, that can endure difficult circumstances and that never loses his temper when annoyed by circumstances or other people. A patient person is able to wait without complaining. The ability to be patient is an extremely valuable skill and perhaps to only effective way in which to deal with the daily frustrations facing all humans.

Being patient should not be confused with waiting idly for something to happen. A fisherman sitting for hours on end in his boat may be seen as patient. However, just sitting there is not actually being patient if he has not prepared his bait and cast his line. Only once he took action, by preparing his bait and by casting his line, can he be described as patient while he waits for a fish to bite.

When someone is tenacious, he is determined, single minded and utterly focused on achieving his goals. He will not allow anything to stand in his way and he will persevere even in the face of very severe difficulties. He knows what it is that he wants to achieve and he will doggedly pursue that goal. He remains optimistic at all times and nobody will distract him from his ultimate purpose.

Pursuing an impossible or unrealistic goal does not mean that someone is tenacious. For example, setting oneself the goal to prove that the earth is flat is foolhardy, rather than tenacious, regardless of the effort and resources poured into achieving this goal. A tenacious person has realistic goals with realistic target dates. He then pursues this goal with determination and strength of will.

Being tenacious or being patient are both valuable characteristics. In combination with one person they are very powerful, however. These are individuals that set themselves goals and do everything that they can to achieve those goals. They do not allow other people or difficulties to side track them. They do not become discouraged and they never ever give up. When they have to wait for results, they do so without rancour.

Far too many people think that it is not possible to develop new character traits, or even to discard weaknesses. This is not true. Humans are amazingly adaptable. Anyone with the will to change can learn new traits and get rid of bad habits. One can learn how to become patient and to be more tenacious. There is a lot of help in this regard. Many websites and books dedicated to self improvement focus on these issues.

It is important to understand that tenacious people are not foolhardy and patient people are not lazy. Edison was tenacious in his pursuit of inventing the light bulb and he remained patient when thousands of experiments failed before he finally succeeded. He never gave up and he never lost faith.




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