Perseverance is not about skill or talent. It’s simply about finishing what you started. There are a lot of good ideas that just stall or sputter until all momentum or desire is lost. For even the most talented individual, challenges, obstacles and failures are commonplace. Only when a person matches talent with perseverance do opportunities become avenues of success.

Perseverance goes the extra mile. It is an attitude, a sense of accomplishment. We are all creatures of completion. We feel great when we get things done. So does every member of our team.

As leaders, we must inspire accomplishments. This sometimes requires us to pull people along, other times it requires us to push people through barriers. Either way, perseverance is the key.

Be careful not to fall into the trap. Perseverance can attract roadblocks and excuses from those operating from fear, doubt or laziness. You have to sift through the reality from the excuses. Challenges are a normal part of doing business but they are only opportunities in disguise for those that choose to see them that way.

Remember perseverance means succeeding because you are determined to, not destined to.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States stated;
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Conduct you and your team’s effort with an attitude of ‘Success is closer that you think!’ Far too often people give up when success is right within their grasp. Perseverance is about building the right attitude and the right habits to succeed. If you or your team just give up on a goal, how do you know you just won’t give up on the next goal? You build individual and team character through persistent determination.

Success has everything to do with what you believe. If you have a struggle going on inside you about if you can be successful or not, you need to learn how to just believe. What you believe determines what you think. What you think determines what you do. What you do determines your life. Sometimes if things aren’t going like you want them to, you may need to just take a deep breath and embrace something different. Maybe you just have to believe something different in order to attain success. This belief is what the 3% leaders of the world possess. 3% of the leaders in the world control the rest of it. They think differently, act differently, and talk differently. These leaders have certain strengths that others don’t have. One is the strength of self-mastery. They understand that their self is a continual piece of work. The second strength is strength of action. The third strength is strength in relationships.

The most important strength that a leader has is that they hold others accountable. Accountability is a key factor in leadership because it’s the cornerstone of personal growth and empowerment. If nobody holds anyone accountable for a project, then nobody gets to grow through the experience of it. Accountability has nothing to do with blame, but everything to do with individuals and their growth. Accountability allows people to accomplish tasks, which lead to self confidence. Self confidence then leads to success, which leads to more success. That is the reason why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. When you hold someone accountable, it allows them the opportunity to sign their name on a picture of success no matter how big or small that picture might be. Because they are held accountable, they automatically have a challenge that allows them to personally grow. To treat people as equals is holding someone accountable.

The 3% leaders in the world treat others like equals. Telling someone what to do is not treating them like an equal. If you are telling someone what to do, you cannot hold them accountable. Also, when you hold yourself accountable, other people are eager to hold themselves accountable as well. This is a major decision of success. Once you’re able to do that, you and you alone are accountable. Do you constantly rescue others or do you hold them accountable?