As I’ve learned, persistence is crucial for success. Throughout my life, until recently, I had been lacking in that regard.
I was apprehensive when it came to most everything, even my decision to start a home-based business. People questioned my judgment, and I did as well.
I did not have faith.
I did not have faith in this industry, faith in people, or faith in myself.
Even though I knew deep down that the opportunity I was involved in was legit and that people were achieving massive success, I couldn’t believe that I could be one of them. Those success stories must be special people. They must have had the right amount of money to throw at this thing to make it work so good for them. I could never achieve that level of success starting with nothing.
I realized why everyone on every training call was encouraging people to go to events.
Social proof.
It’s one thing to read testimonials, watch videos and hear people on conference calls talking about there success. It is another, and has much more impact, in person when you come face to face with these people and see it in their eyes that they are sincere and telling the truth.
My first live event was the turning point for me. There was no turning back. I made a decision and decided to stick to it.
Coming home from that event, I dove into training call archives and immersed myself into the curriculum, rarely missing a live call. Inevitably I got to the calls regarding seven decisions of personal success. These decisions reinforced my commitment to myself and my business and began to replace fear with faith.
I had committed to this seventh decision (“I will persist without exception”) after reading “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. I would persist without exception. Nothing or no one was going to stop me.
Since then, I have faced some difficult challenges which could easily knock me off my square and take me out of the game, if I had let them. I could have listened to those who think me foolish for investing so much time and what little money I had into something that appears to be too risky for most in my situation. But, I have always been a stubborn S.O.B. Nobody is going to tell me what I can and can’t do, which is not always necessarily a good thing and is probably why I’ve had so many different jobs 
I find now that that stubbornness has been useful when put to good use. It has allowed me to persist through some of the most difficult challenges in my life. It’s just another chapter in the book of Jon (from Michigan). This story will be a success story. I will see to that.
I have made the decision to persist without exception.
The monetary debts I owed to my landlord, the creditors, the State of Michigan and to anyone else for that matter, pale in comparison the debts of gratitude I have to the leaders that continue to inspire and guide me and to my mentor for his leadership, wisdom, and of course for introducing me to the seven decisions that will determine my personal success.
I have faith in myself. I will persist without exception.
We’ve all seen them. The bright cheerful people. They go through their day, seemingly without a care in the world.
Those shiny, happy people.
No matter what happens, they always seem to have a smile on their face.
Don’t they have problems? Stress? Challenges?
I’m sure they must. But, yet they appear to be free of all lifes trappings. Why are they like that?
I know now that it’s because they choose to be.
My Mom is one of those people.
She wasn’t always that way. And I’m not sure when the transformation actually occurred. But, for the past several years, no matter what’s going on in her life she stays happy.
This is a woman who has been to Hell and back in her lifetime. Abusive husbands, financial hardships and addictions. She is unable to work due to back and neck problems, as well as arthritis. She is often in a lot of pain. What little she gets for disability is made smaller by the I.R.S. for payment of unpaid taxes, which leaves very little to live on.
A lot of people would be very unhappy if they had to live their life like that. I never understood how she, in the face of all that, could be happy.
It’s simply because she chooses to be.
She helps people in her neighborhood, without expecting anything in return. She smiles at people. She compliments people, asks them about their day. And she is grateful just to be alive.
She has been a constant reminder that even as I struggled to build my business and so many other things in daily life…I can choose to be happy. To be grateful for what I have, and to be alive. Not to dwell on the things I have lost. Or, what could have been.
Someone once told me, “If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in the tomorrow, you’re pissing all over today.”
Today, I will choose to be happy.
