Power of Purpose, Passion and Persistence

Aya Fubara Eneli, MA, JD

A wise person once said that too often we miss out on the greatest opportunities in our lives because they come disguised as hard work. Survey a group of people and most would like to be comfortable – have expendable income, live in a nice house, drive nice cars, go on vacations when they want, etc. Well, living in our great nation, you can have anything you want, but you have to be willing to do what it takes to get it. Alas, that’s where you lose most people.

If it requires some modicum of effort, people start bailing on you, oh so they think. In actuality, they are bailing on themselves, their dreams, their aspirations, and ultimately their destiny. It is a proven fact that if you want great success, you must be willing to put forth great effort.

So, what is it that prevents so many of us from ever living up to our potential? I believe it boils down to a lack of purpose and passion, self-doubt and an inability to persist.

Persistence paid off for American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet Pluto. Tombaugh took up the search in March 1929. Time magazine recorded the investigation: “He examined scores of telescopic photographs each showing tens of thousands of star images in pairs under the dual microscope.

It often took three days to scan a single pair. It was exhausting, eye-cracking work–in his own words, ‘brutal, tediousness.’ And it went on for months. Star by star, he examined 20 million images. Then on February 18, 1930, as he was blinking at a pair of photographs in the constellation Gemini, he said, ‘I suddenly came upon the image of Pluto!” It was recorded as the most dramatic astronomic discovery in nearly 100 years.

Most of us are not like Tombaugh, we might be willing to work, but only if the results are immediate. Most people don’t succeed in business because they quit before the business can even show a profit. Consider the persistence of the stone cutter.

“I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow it splits in two. I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

There is no overnight success. If you ever achieve a level of success without having earned it, you are almost guaranteed to lose it. Why is this so? Because true success requires that you evolve and become a more superior version of yourself. Who you become in the process can never be taken away from you.

It is tough to persist at something when it is not tied to your purpose. I can write these columns weekly for over 12 years because writing this column is one way I achieve my purpose to empower people to live up to their God-given potential.

If you want true success in life, find your purpose and make sure that what you do advances that purpose. George Bernard Shaw, quoted in the book, Courage – You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear stated, “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

Could you feel the passion in his writing? Yep, that is the gift of living purposefully; you discover you are also living passionately. Passionate people make things happen. They have a vision and passion enlarges it for everyone else to catch the vision too. Look at any coach of a top team, you see and sense the passion.

Do you want to take advantage of the opportunities in your life? Find your purpose, work with passion and persist at your work no matter the obstacles, find a mentor or a coach. I wish you your abundant life.

 

Aya Fubara Eneli is a best-selling author, Christian Life Coach, Inspirational Speaker and Attorney. Her life’s purpose is to empower and equip people to live up to their highest potential. For more information or to book her for your next event, visit www.ayaeneli.com, or e-mail her at info@ayaeneli.com.