The Secret of Success

The important thing in life is to have a great goal and the determination to attain it. Living without a goal is like sailing without a compass. Lack of purpose is the cause of most of our failures. When a great aim has been decided on, determination and persistence are most important. A story about Mao Zedong's willpower not to smoke is a good example of this kind of willpower applied for the short term, an example the young person might apply to his or her determination to work for the long term. Mao was addicted to cigarettes. At the Chongqing Negotiations, he was observed to have an unusual expression on his face. When the talks were over, Jiang Jieshi said, "He likes cigarettes as much as he does his life, but when he learned that I don't smoke, in the course of our talks, he never smoked even a single cigarette." We can never despise Mao Zedong's determination and will! You can see that nothing is impossible for a willing heart.

Persistence is also the key factor, like determination. As Benjamin Franklin said, "He who is patient can have whatever he wants." This persistence is necessary; successful people expect periodic defeats, learn what went wrong and why, and make necessary adjustments, and try again. If you are persistent, you will almost inevitably succeed. When Ludwig van Beethoven - "the Michelangelo of Music", reached his peak, he was totally deaf. If you study his biography, and get acquainted with his trials, his hardships, battles, and triumphed over fate. Success seldom comes easily on the first try. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is persistence. Many organizational analysts and career consultants consider persistence to be ultimate key to success at both the organizational and personal level. Successful people also fail occasionally, but they do not let their failures defeat their spirit. Learning from defeats, they revise strategy as needed and try again, and again, and again, until they succeed. In everyone's heart, there is that kind of pure green and the pure desire for success. Green signifies vitality, hope and success. It urges you on.