★ Rich Habit #12: Never Quitting On Your Dreams

This is part of our Rich Habits series, by best-selling author Tom Corley. Be sure to check out all previous habits we’ve covered!

Those with the most persistence are the most successful in life and accumulate the most wealth. Successful people pursue their dreams until they succeed, die or become incapacitated. Not even bankruptcy or divorce stops them from pursuing their dreams. Persistence means taking action every day on the goals behind our dreams, whether we feel like it or not. It means never giving in to our doubts. Some days go our way, but most of the days will not.

Realizing a Dream Takes Time and Persistence

What sets successful people apart from everyone else is that they persist even when life does not cooperate and fills their mind with doubts. Persistence means we stay on task despite all of the mistakes. Successful people view their mistakes as nothing more than learning experiences. Persistence means we pick ourselves up after suffering devastating failure after failure. We only fail when we quit. Persistence means not letting rejection or being ignored stop us from moving forward. We cannot take it personally. We need to take emotion out of it. When we get rejected or ignored we need to move on. Persistence means not allowing distractions to shift our focus. It’s easy to let distractions get in the way. Successful people push aside distractions and focus on what’s important. They have a big picture view that acts like a force field, deflecting all distractions from their path. Persistence means not letting fear stop us in our tracks. Fear is the main reason most quit on a dream. Successful people make a habit of taking action, despite their fears. Most unsuccessful people do not pursue their dreams. They are held back by fear and doubt. They do not believe in themselves enough to pursue a dream. They have limiting beliefs that tell them they are not smart enough, educated enough, hard-working enough or capable of pursuing their dreams. Those few unsuccessful people who do pursue their dreams eventually quit. They fall victim to Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. Unsuccessful people perpetually chase something new because the thing they were previously pursuing did not immediately pay off, was too hard or was just taking far longer than they expected.

In Summary

Successful people pursue their dreams no matter what. They understand it takes both time and persistence to accomplish them. Unsuccessful people are held back by fear and doubt.