(1) Blind Persistence
(2) Random Persistence
(3) Planned Persistence
Imagine for a moment that you are standing in front of a safe containing 10 million dollars. The safe has a 4 digit combination lock and if you can find the right combination within 24 hours, you can claim the 10 million dollars as your own.
Blind Persistence
The blind persistence approach is to decide that you know for a fact that the combination is ‘7318′ and to spend the next 24 hours entering this same combination and trying to open the door.
Random Persistence
The random persistence approach is to try different combinations at random and hope that you get lucky. The problem with this approach is that after a few attempts, you won’t remember which combinations you’ve tried and which you haven’t.
Planned Persistence
The planned persistence approach is to start with ‘0000′ and then try ‘0001′, ‘0002′, ‘0003′…until you reach the right combination. If you enter one combination every 8 seconds, it will take you just over 22 hours to try every combination possible. This approach therefore guarantees you success.
As you can see, blind persistence and random persistence rarely lead to success. The key to achieving your most important life goals is to learn to use planned persistence.
Here’s a real world example to show you what I mean.
Rob is trying to attract more customers to his automotive repair business.
Blind Persistence
He decides to put an ‘A’ frame sign in front of his shop and waits for the customers to come through the door. Nothing happens… He waits for three long weeks before realising that his approach isn’t working.
Random Persistence
His next approach is to try as many random marketing techniques as he can think of. He drops flyers into mail boxes, puts an ad in the newspaper and has a glossy brochure printed. He gets a few more customers but doesn’t know where they’re coming from.
Planned Persistence
Finally, Rob decides to sit down and think things through. He decides to run another ad in the newspaper and to monitor his results by asking every new customer how they found him. After three weeks, his results show that only one customer came from his newspaper ad while 12 customers came in as a result of his mail box flyers. He therefore decides not to advertise in the newspaper and puts the money he saves into expanding his mail box flyer campaign.
Rob is now using planned persistence and is on his way to achieving his goal of building a profitable business.
This Week’s Action Steps
(1) Decide on your goal and stick with it.
(2) Understand that to achieve your goal you need to use ‘planned persistence’ which involves carefully planned experimentation.
(3) Create a written plan of action of things to try.
(4) Try different techniques and monitor your results carefully.
(5) Discard what doesn’t work and move on to your next experiment until you find the combination that unlocks your dreams.
Until next time,
Dare To Dream!
~ $@G@R ~
