When Does Persistence Pay Off?
Persistence is the best way to choose, follow, and stay on any given path.
During and after college I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. There were a few vague ideas, even some thoughts of pursuing my degree program achievements.
Use my major and get a job in theatre? That never panned out. My one, very brief gig in semi-professional theatre was a month of annoyance, irritability, and no fun.
Use my minor and get a gig in radio? I couldn’t land a job in the Ithaca market, which is a pretty low-ranked market. And I was unwilling to relocate to a middle-of-nowhere, even lower market, to pursue that.
Make use of my other minor in art history? I considered more than once going back to school to complete an education program or acquire another degree so that I could teach. But I never worked up the get-up-and-go or general motivation for that.
So, I bounced from job to job, no career idea plan and no ambition to rise up to the next level.
Then one day I got hit by a car crossing a street and spent the next year of my life recovering from the injuries. Yet that was not just a physical recovery – I began to develop the basis for my Pathwalking philosophy and working with conscious reality creation.
It was in this period that I began to form the idea for what to do with my life. I’d done it for years and years already, but I have never chosen to pursue it.
Turning an idea into practice
When I was a kid, I had a really active imagination. The bay-like window in our living room was the flight deck of my starship, and I was the pilot. I flew my version of the Millennium Falcon – but mine was cooler.
The swing on my swingset was a starfighter. I fought a lot of pretend villains and probably handed the Empire a lot of defeats over the years.
I was a storyteller at a young age. When other kids were playing football, baseball, and hockey I was writing and drawing.
However, I was led to believe that writers don’t make money. So the practice was a hobby and not a pursuit. Not until my 30s, at any rate.
I finished a 550+ page novel. Then I wrote and finished its sequel. I paused form that series to write a couple of short stories and started another series in a different genre. Blogging online occasionally became a regular practice.
Writing started to take the form of more than just a hobby, but a path that I desired to travel. As opportunities presented themselves for me to make use of this skill, I took them on.
For the first time in my life, I applied persistence to an idea to turn it into reality.
Over time, I developed the idea of being a writer into practice. After a lot of fits and starts, missteps, and other obstacles, I truly began to practice the art.
Using applied persistence
A year ago, I lost my job. It had been what I thought was the most perfect fitting job I had ever held. My writing practice had – along the way – also evolved into an editing practice. Thus, editing seemed like an excellent fit.
Yet I went from consistent, strong work to inconsistent so-so work with many mistakes. Somewhere along the way, my attention to detail slipped and I started to make errors frequently. Even redoubling my efforts didn’t produce improved results, so they let me go.
To be perfectly honest with both you – and myself – I have no idea how or why my quality of work declined so drastically. The only answer I could come up with after a thorough analysis was self-sabotage.
I loved that job. And I liked the people I was working with. So, how and why did I drop the ball and screw it up? I simply have no answer for this.
When I concluded that it was a form of self-sabotage, rather than become defeated, upset, or self-deprecating, I looked at it as a sign. I’d joined Medium less than six months earlier. Maybe it was time to write full-time for money?
Thus, I began to apply persistence and write daily, even twice daily, to produce articles. Over the next year, I published online dozens of articles about conscious reality creation, mindfulness, positivity, politics, self-awareness, self-improvement, inspiration, writing as a practice, and even poetry.
I intended to join the ranks of the Medium writers earing better than $100 a month, and even those earning thousands a month. Persistence would pay off.
I am happy to report that is has paid off! Granted, it hasn’t really “paid” yet, but that’s just half the story.
Ongoing progress
Starting in 2012 I published a Pathwalk a week. Over time I was publishing two articles a week, then three, until you get to now, where I am writing articles daily.
I have no yet reached the desired level on Medium and become a top-earning writer. However, I have seen articles from other writers where they point out it took time to reach that level.
I have been practicing persistence in writing for over a year now. Though I am not yet a top earner, I believe in my ability and my skill as a writer. Additionally, more writing equals more practice, and more practice is how you build up any skill.
Maybe my persistence has not paid off monetarily yet…but it certainly has in other ways. How? Not only am I writing articles daily – I am walking my walk and talking my talk, so-to-speak. Also, I am working on my fiction regularly.
The first book in my new sci-fi series – The Void Incursion – will be released in less than a month. Its sequel is with the editor now and will be out in November. I have been making headway on the 4th book in the series (book 3 is done but unedited by me just yet).
Persistence in practice has paid off. After many years without direction and uncertainty, I have a clearer path. I have direction, and my practice of writing – in multiple forms – is ongoing.
Success is a measure that often gets over-wrought and expanded too grandly. It’s not a matter of a lowered bar, but rather reveling in the results of my actions. Every little bit counts, and celebrating that is powerful.
I know I am on the right path for my life
There is room for improvement. However, that’s true of every aspect of life itself. Improvement is a part of growth. Growth is learning, experiencing, and seeing all the potential and possibility life has to offer. This can be especially good to use when life becomes tremendously uncertain and unpredictable, as it is currently for most of us.
I will continue applying persistence and strive to get better. Not just with my practice but how I experience every day.
Maybe my payday isn’t quite where I desire it to be. But my sense of accomplishment and a higher level of life satisfaction tell me this chosen path is the right one for me.
How has your persistence paid off for you?
This is the four-hundred and thirty-fourth article for my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are ideas for – and my personal experiences with – mindfulness and walking along the path of life to consciously create reality. I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. I further desire to empower myself and my readers with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. My additional writing, both fiction and non-fiction, are available here.
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