Shark Eyes: Beleive You can by John Mason

Persistence Prevails When All Else Fails

A man who meets a guru on the road asks, "Which way is success? The bearded sage doesn't speak but instead points to a place off in the distance.

The man, thrilled by the prospect of quick and easy success, rushes off in the appropriate direction. Splat!

He limps back, bruised and stunned, assuming he must have misinterpreted the message. He repeats his question to the guru, who again points silently in the same direction.

He obediently walks off once more. This time the splat is deafening, and when he crawls back, he is bloody, broken, and irate. "I asked you which way is success!" he screams at the guru. "I followed the direction you indicated and all I got was splattered! No more of this pointing! Talk!

Only then does the guru speak: "Success is that way. Just a little after the splat."

All of us has experienced "the splat." It's what we do after the splat that makes all the difference. Many times this is what separates high achievers from non-achievers. Whatever you want to accomplish in life will require persistence. Champion racer Rick Mears said it well: "To finish first you must first finish."

Do you want to accomplish something in life? Be like the stone cutter.

Look at the stone cutter, hammering away at the rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow iy will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. - Jacob Riis

All things come to those who persistently go after them. Perseverance is the result of a strong will; stubbornness is the result of a strong won't. Baron de Montesquieu said, "Success often depends on knowing how long it will take to succeed." This is the secret of success: Never let down, and never let up. Consider what proverbs says: "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings" (22:29 KJV).

• You may be whatever you resolve to be. determine to be something in the world and you will be something. "I cannot" never accomplished anything; "I will try" has wrought wonders. - Joel Hause

Herbert Kaufman adds, "Spurts don't count. The final score makes no mention of a splendid start if the finish proves that you were an 'also ran'".

Excerpts taken from Believe You Can by John Mason

Visit the SHARK EYES section for recommended must reads.