8 Motivational Success Stories to Inspire You to Fight On!

What do Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, James Bond, Nelson Mandela and Wile E. Coyote all have in common? Can you guess?

No?

Ok, I will tell you, what they all have in common is this – they were all persistent as hell! They, and others we will discuss today endured and persisted through much adversity on their way to becoming successful.  Which brings us to the topic of today’s post: motivational success stories of persistence.

GOALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will have to forgive me for my exuberance! I’m all caught up in World Cup fever 2018! Being a big sports fan, I have really been enjoying this year’s World Cup. The things these guys can do with a soccer ball is incredible! However, what I think I enjoy even more is the persistence and perseverance they show as well as their never say die attitude.  For example, Belgium was down 2-0 to Japan but their persistence allowed them to complete an amazing comeback en route to a 3-2 victory.

We will look at some amazingly inspirational stories of persistence – both real-life inspirational stories and fictional stories that will show you that many times success is merely a function of never giving up.

Definition of Persistence

Let’s first define persistence so that we are all on the same page.  Actually, let’s look at a couple definitions:

According to vocabulary.com, “Persistence is the ability to stick with something. If you practice the violin for over a year in order to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” perfectly, that’s persistence!” ¹

And according to urbandictionary.com, “The act of continuing to pursue someone even after being blown off multiple times. I hope that dude’s persistence pays off and Miss McDonald goes out with him. “²

I think for our purposes both definitions work and now it’s time to move on to look at those motivational success stories of persistence…

Some Examples of Motivational Success Stories of Persistence

There are many examples of famous athletes for whom success did not come immediately, but perhaps…

The most famous of them all is…

(1)  Michael Jordan

Did you know that one of the best basketball players of all time didn’t even make varsity his sophomore year of high school? But he persisted and kicked ass on the JV squad, grew 4 inches the next summer and the rest, as they say, is history.

Not a big sports fan?

That’s ok, perhaps you are a fan of the movies and theme parks that bear the name of…

(2)  Walt Disney

A few examples of things Disney persisted through included: being fired from the Kansas City Star because his boss thought he wasn’t creative enough, being told that Mickey Mouse would fail because it would terrify women, and having to completely re-write Pinocchio after shutting it down during production. But he persisted and eventually overcame every obstacle that was in his way.

Have You Had to Replace a Lightbulb Lately?

While it may be a pain in the ass to get up on that ladder, just be grateful the next person on our list persisted enough to invent it for us in the first place!

(3)  Thomas Edison

We all know that Edison invented the lightbulb, but did you know that he failed over 1,000 times in his pursuit to create it? His response when asked by a reporter how it felt to fail over 1,000 times, Edison said “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” ³  By the way, how would you have felt to be the teacher that said he was too stupid to do anything?

Bond…James Bond

Anyone who is a fan of Britain’s ‘favourite’ spy

(4)  James Bond

…will tell you that he is one persistent mofo! Whether it is one of his patented edge-of-your-seat escapes or his ability to always get the girl – it is almost always his persistence that helps him succeed.

Hakuna Matata

Is a Swahili phrase that means ‘no worries’ and if you have seen the Lion King you are familiar with not only the song by the same name but you are also familiar with…

(5)  …Nala

As the most significant female character in the Lion King, Nala’s persistence is much of the reason for Simba going back to save the pride and become king.

In His Fight Against Oppression…

(6)  Nelson Mandela

Was quoted as saying, “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up.” There have not been many people who have fallen down and gotten back up more than Mandela who persisted against the South African government’s racist policies for more than 20 years.

 In 9^th Grade, I Read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and 

(7)  Atticus Finch

Was the lawyer who persisted in defense of his client, Tom Robinson. Robinson was a black man in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama who was falsely accused of raping a white woman. Despite the fact that Tom is convicted, Atticus is still successful in my mind for showing his children the importance of persistence and standing up for what is right.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can!

(8)  The Little Engine That Could

No list of motivational success stories related to persistence would be complete without The Little Engine That Could! The gist of the fairytale is that a stranded train needs to go up a hill and many engines are unwilling to take it over the hill. However, a little blue engine comes to the rescue and persists and persists and repeats the famous mantra of “I think I can, I think I can” until it gets the train over the hill.

These are just a few motivational success stories related to persistence, I could have gone on all day!  Hopefully, you got a little inspiration from the motivational success stories above which all show the importance of never giving up no matter what!

However, I do need to mention this word of caution when it comes to persistence – as important as it is…

Sometimes You Need to Move On

You may have read my recent post on the sunk cost fallacy, also known as commitment bias which is the phenomenon where you continue with a specific course of action, even though you know it is wrong. You continue because you want to save face or to justify your decision in the first place, or because you had already invested time, money or emotion into it.

As for how to know when to persist and when you need call it quits?  Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. gives great advice on how to avoid sticking to your commitments too long. In my opinion, his advice also works for knowing how long to persist and that is by listening to your stomach.

Meaning, we usually know when we are quitting on something too early and not being persistent enough. That is, if you think you are giving up too early and not being persistent enough – you are probably right!

Use it or Lose it

The next time you are about to quit on a goal or objective, think back to these motivational success stories and how much persistence they showed to reach their goals.  Many times, we quit when we are oh so close to reaching our goal.

So, instead of quitting when things aren’t happening soon enough, put your head down, keep on keeping on and keep persisting!

Quotes About Persistence

I am a big fan of quotes, here are some good ones related to persistence:

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
     -Steve Jobs

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”
   – Samuel Johnson

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
– Winston Churchill

“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”
– Albert Einstein

“But your example about Wile E. Coyote sucks,” you say…

…because he wasn’t successful.  All of his pursuits of the Road Runner ended in him failing one way or another!  Technically you are correct.  But, my thinking is this, as long as Wile E. Coyote kept persisting he would have eventually ended up catching the Road Runner, he just ran out of episodes!

Until next time, keep persisting, and as always…PYMFP!
-Rick

When to Use It:

  When things get tough and you need to dig deep to persist on.

What Do You Think?

  Do you have any motivational success stories regarding people who were persistent?  Please share them in the comments below!

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