Persistence
“The way to success lies in doing more than your job calls for.” – F. W. Nichol
This quality, which is a foundation stone to success, is beautifully demonstrated by the following story: A master salesman envisioned the possibility of a million dollar a year continuous sale of material to a new client. He unfolded his vision to his sales manager. “Pipe dream. Nothing in it. Too many hurdles. Forget it and, for heaven’s sake keep your feet on earth,” was the reply.
Two years later this master salesman closed the order of his vision for nearly double the estimated million. He overcame those insurmountable hurdles. He converted the pipe dream into a reality. He made a good friend and ally of a powerful industry and, better still, he doubled his earnings.
During that two years he was as silent as the Sphinx about that matter. No one in the plant knew a thing about it, nor did the prospect know of it. On his own time he laid his plans and met the problems of those hurdles one by one. Gradually he assembled his elements that made that epochal sale possible.
It meant vast research into his prospect’s field. It meant visioning a connecting link between two departments of his prospect’s business. It meant departing from rigid methods in his own plant. It called for much mental concentration, much study and endless work. It meant giving up two years’ play time and concentrating on the development of dogged persistence. It meant convincing two boards of directors of the wisdom of expanding their lines. That meant plugging every loophole through which a conservative board could escape by excuses and tradition. It also meant equipping himself with knowledge necessary to run the new department which his plant must set up, for he wanted that job for himself and got it.
These were the insurmountable hurdles that caused his manager to turn thumbs down on it. He surmounted those hurdles because he persisted. Today he holds twice as good a job as he did two years ago and is fully twice as secure. And as for the extra work of it, and the sacrifice of his leisure, he said: “I enjoyed every minute of it more than any other leisure I have ever known. The anticipation of achievement made my nights of studying that task a continuous joy, and I would not give up the thrill of it for all the play in the world.”
This quality, which is a foundation stone to success, is beautifully demonstrated by the following story: A master salesman envisioned the possibility of a million dollar a year continuous sale of material to a new client. He unfolded his vision to his sales manager. “Pipe dream. Nothing in it. Too many hurdles. Forget it and, for heaven’s sake keep your feet on earth,” was the reply.
Two years later this master salesman closed the order of his vision for nearly double the estimated million. He overcame those insurmountable hurdles. He converted the pipe dream into a reality. He made a good friend and ally of a powerful industry and, better still, he doubled his earnings.
During that two years he was as silent as the Sphinx about that matter. No one in the plant knew a thing about it, nor did the prospect know of it. On his own time he laid his plans and met the problems of those hurdles one by one. Gradually he assembled his elements that made that epochal sale possible.
It meant vast research into his prospect’s field. It meant visioning a connecting link between two departments of his prospect’s business. It meant departing from rigid methods in his own plant. It called for much mental concentration, much study and endless work. It meant giving up two years’ play time and concentrating on the development of dogged persistence. It meant convincing two boards of directors of the wisdom of expanding their lines. That meant plugging every loophole through which a conservative board could escape by excuses and tradition. It also meant equipping himself with knowledge necessary to run the new department which his plant must set up, for he wanted that job for himself and got it.
These were the insurmountable hurdles that caused his manager to turn thumbs down on it. He surmounted those hurdles because he persisted. Today he holds twice as good a job as he did two years ago and is fully twice as secure. And as for the extra work of it, and the sacrifice of his leisure, he said: “I enjoyed every minute of it more than any other leisure I have ever known. The anticipation of achievement made my nights of studying that task a continuous joy, and I would not give up the thrill of it for all the play in the world.”
