“Great is the heartfelt joy when, after innumerable and apparently unsuccessful attempts, some ingrained fault of character is at last cast out to trouble its erstwhile victim and the world no more.” – The Mastery of Destiny

James Allen is sharing with us the reward (heartfelt joy) for finally overcoming a personal character deficit. However, what he’s really sharing with us is the value of persistence.

If I had to pick one character trait that I think is a “must have” in order to be successful in any endeavor, it would be persistence. In fact, it seems to be the one trait that is the dominant trait in every single, super-successful individual I know. I believe it to be the one trait that any ordinary person can use to become extraordinary (“extra-ordinary”).

Napoleon Hill, who wrote Think and Grow Rich, devoted an entire chapter to Persistence and said that the only thing that was different about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison was their persistence.

I’ve long since forgotten where I read it, but I’ve never forgotten the story of the tribe in Africa that confounded all of the anthropologists. It seems that this tribe had for centuries enjoyed a 100% success rate with its rain dance. In comparing this tribe to other tribes who did rain dances but who didn’t always experience success, the experts couldn’t find anything that differentiated the one tribe. They performed the same rituals, praying the same incantations to the same gods, in the same costumes. Like all the tribes, they sometimes danced for days, even weeks on end.

Finally an astute observer noticed something very telling. The successful tribe did one thing – and only one thing – different than the other tribes. It ALWAYS danced UNTIL it rained!

If your head is hanging low today as mine has done on many a day, I hope you’ll find the encouragement to know that you really only need to do one thing at this point — PERSIST. And that means taking just one step in the right direction — even a half step in the right direction.

Yes, maybe you need to review your plan or change your plan or maybe you even need to create a plan in the first place 🙂 But the one way you can ensure that you will meet with success (it’s absolutely guaranteed) — is to “dance until it rains!”

And that’s worth thinking about.

Note: This was previously published in Day by Day with James Allen, but its message bears repeating many times.