Mark S. Brown

Francis Crick was the recipient of a jointly awarded Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for his work in discovering the structure of DNA. Paul Berg another well noted scientist remembers Francis Crick as being wrong most of the time. However, he noted also, that Francis had 10 ideas for every one that was truly brilliant. Francis had imagination and persistence.

How does a person become persistent? How can we become better at pressing on even in difficult times, and crossing barriers as they arise? Here are three habits that can help you increase your persistence:

1. Use your daily agenda: If you want to be persistent about something, it needs to be a part of your daily routine. Add it to your agenda. Make small steps every day in the area of your focus.

2. Reflect on your progress: Daily reflection can keep you see how and when you need to adjust to continue moving forward. Not every day will be successful. Persistence requires working through failure. Reflection is the tool that lets you see failure as opportunity.

3. Align the why and the how: It is nearly impossible to be persistent in an area that is not in alignment with your purpose and your passion. Trying to do something everyday that you do not enjoy or does not fulfill some need inside of yourself will lead to more frustration and less satisfaction.

Napoleon Hill wrote, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.” Being persistent requires learning a new definition of failure.

Francis died in 2004 at the age of 88. Until his death he continued to research theoretical neurobiology attempting to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. According to Christof Koch, Francis was editing a manuscript on his death bed.

 

I admire people with talent, and enjoy seeing people perform at the peak of their ability. I like to watch musicians, vocalists, artists, athletes, public speakers, actors, and so many more. For many people talent is very visible. However for the majority of us normal folk, talent is not as visible.

There are times when watching a great vocalist, and I find myself wishing I had more singing talent. We cannot all be great singers. How boring would this world be if we all had the same talents? Each of us have unique talents, and we can be more successful if we put them to use.

Talents are a great starting point, but talent alone is never enough. All of the people that have used their talent for great achievement did not find success just on their talent. Here are the three things that turn talent into success.

1. Hard work: Talent is developed. It is true you may have some natural abilities that strengthen your talent, but great talent is only developed through hard work. I have seen behind the scenes of many great public speakers. I have been taught many of the techniques they use to deliver a message and engage an audience. The audience does not notice them, because if they did, then the speaker would not be that good. John Maxwell is one of today’s most successful speakers on leadership, and he diligently started developing his talent when he was only 17 years old.

2. Passion: Passion is what makes the hard work seem like it is not hard work. Passion is what allows a person to dedicate their life to developing their talent. You must love what you do to be great at it. The best vocalists combine technical perfection with raw passion that you can hear in their song.

3. Perseverance: People that succeed in developing their talent do not fear failure. Everyone fails many times in their life. High achievers look at a failure as an opportunity to learn, or an opportunity to try a different solution. It is well know that Thomas Edison had nearly 10,000 experiments fail that eventually led to the development of the light bulb. Accepting failure as a speed bump and not a road block is an important quality for your own development.

Do you know your talent? Are you combining hard work, passion, and perseverance to develop it fully?

I attended a conference last week and had the opportunity to see Michael Abrashoff speak at one of the keynote events. Michael is a former naval commander and author of several books including It’s Your Ship.

Michael took over one of the worst performing ships in the Pacific, and turned it into one of the top performing ships within 18 months. A truly inspiring story. Here are three ideas he conveyed that we can all use.

1. We have greater influence than we think if we focus on what we can control, and get over the things we can’t control. Never be the victim in a situation. Assess what you can control and move forward with making things better.

2. Use an “after action review” to reflect, challenge and coach. Reflection should be a part of our daily practices. Michael used a reflection process with his team, not only to improve, but to challenge. He told his team making mistakes was expected. You can only learn through trying, and through reflection we should never make the same mistake twice.

3. Remember that you will never be reprimanded for recognizing good performance. As commander, Michael was given the opportunity to award 15 Excellence Stars to his crew every year. In his first year, he handed out 154. He purposefully looked to catch people in the act of doing the right thing and he recognized them. People repeat behaviors when they are recognized and rewarded. Find and recognize the behaviors you want to be a part of your team’s culture.

Michael Abrashoff was not your normal naval officer. He is an exception, but we can apply his techniques in our own team. You can’t order excellence. You can’t achieve success by yourself. Focus on supporting all your people, provide training, and develop a culture of excellence.

Success does not just happen. James Thom has said, “Probably the most honest self made man ever was the one we heard say: ‘I got to the top the hard way — fighting my own laziness and ignorance every step of the way.'” Usually we are our own roadblock.

Most people dream of success, but are not able to make the sacrifices required to be successful. Continuing to learn and grow is part of that hard work. We are never born knowing how to be successful. How can we get out of our own way?

1. Estimate the price: What will it take to achieve your dream? How will you prepare? What will it cost you in time, resources, and sacrifices?

2. Determine where you need to grow: What areas will you need more knowledge, skill, and experience to meet your dream? How will you gain what you need?

3. Find some help: No one is a success by themselves. Build a team. Find a teacher. Who can bring skills that will help?

4. Follow your dream: If you have thought it through, and you are committed, then you need to take action — every day. Start today, and work every day advancing to your goal. There is no better time to start.