Yes! Being Persistent Results In Powerful Progress

How persistent are you willing to be? Are you quick to give up or are you willing to push through the discomfort, maybe even pain, in order to make progress? That’s important, because sometimes progress is hard!

Meet Mr. Robin

One Saturday morning, Mr. Robin collided into my bedroom window, not once or twice, but repeatedly. This was my first encounter with Mr. Robin.

Birds hold a special meaning for me. They symbolize God’s love and care for me, so the visit of a reckless robin that morning was fascinating. It even felt a little special.

In-between attacking the window, Mr. Robin would sit peering in and looking smugly at me.  You can see below how he sat there observing me long enough for me to capture this picture.

Turns out this feathered friend had been repeatedly bashing into my husband’s office window unbeknownst to me, disrupting his work for more than a week.

What initially felt special quickly turned into annoyance. Following that Saturday, Mr. Robin continued to ram into the dining room window, office window, bedroom window, and basement window. Its relentless window crashing even got the attention of my one-year-old granddaughter who repeatedly exclaimed “oh no!” as she witnessed Mr. Robin’s antics.

With Mr. Robin exhibiting such unusual behavior, my husband and I were curious if Mr. Robin had lost his marbles or if this was normal robin behavior. It turns out that robins are very territorial. They go to great lengths to protect their food and their “woman” and will attack the reflection of themselves in the window thinking it’s competition or an intruder. Don’t believe me? You can check it out here.

Foolishness, Right?

One would think that after attacking the perceived threat a dozen or two times, the robin would figure out that his efforts were pointless. It’s even more confounding when you consider how each thrust against the window must have been painful!

Logically it makes sense to fiercely protect your territory, but repeatedly engaging in actions that not only take a toll on you, but are actually a waste of energy, I’m not so sure about.

The more I thought about Mr. Robin, the more I realized that I’ve been just as foolish at times; repeatedly engaging in activities in spite of the fact that they did not produce the results I was after.

Being persistent is a very desirable trait if you are persisting at the right activities. Persisting at the wrong activities is pointless.

That begs my second question for you: Are you being persistent at the right things?

The Real Dilemma!

Honestly, sometimes it’s tough to know if you are being persistent and consistent at the right activities. After all, some efforts require time, more time than seems reasonable, before you see the fruit. So how do you know you are engaging in the right efforts? Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Choose A Compelling Why

Make sure you have a compelling why. Then, when the process gets hard, your motivation is still there. It’s pointless to put a ton of effort into something that really doesn’t matter to you!

If the goals you are working towards are truly compelling, the odds of you being willing to persist go up significantly! However, without a compelling why, it won’t matter if your efforts are the right ones or not.

2. Approach The Process Prayerfully

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.“  Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

Repeatedly in scripture, the method God uses to accomplish something is pretty out of the ordinary!  Just a few examples…

• • • Covering a man’s eyes with mud made from spit to heal him. (John 9:1-11)
    • Naaman, a well-respected army commander and Gentile was told by Elisha to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River to cure his leprosy, which he was not excited about! To be fair, the Jordan River was not a super clean river. In fact, water from the Jordan River was prohibited in the Temple due to its impurity. (2 Kings 5)
    • David killing Goliath with a mere stone! (I Samuel 17)
    • The Israelite spies sent to the check out the land were rescued by Rahab, a prostitute! (Joshua 2)

Of course, there are dozens of other examples in the Bible, but you get the idea. God has a unique way of getting things done! He has the power to accomplish what you can’t on your own! That’s why it is critical that you approach what you are pursuing prayerfully and follow His directions even when they don’t seem logical to you.

You will be tempted to take the actions that make sense to you, actions that the world says you should take, but that isn’t always the best strategy.

You may face some wild obstacles along that way. That doesn’t mean you aren’t on the right track. It may be a chance to realize how important that end result is to you, an opportunity to learn and grow, or preparation!

3. Challenge Your Beliefs

Mr. Robin’s efforts were based on the misconception that the reflection in the window was a threat. If this belief was true, you would applaud such courageous actions. Unfortunately, his belief was not true. Ironically, you and I often operate in similar ways.

I’ve observed professionals continuing to work in the same old way despite the fact that their job is on the line. You might say they believed there wasn’t a threat when there actually was.

Others keep on doing what has worked in the past to make sales, gain clients, or move up the ladder, but are no longer getting the same results because there’s a belief that needs to be challenged.

Sometimes it’s identifying the fear that is attempting to keep you safe (stuck) in your comfort zone.

Maybe it’s time to confront your Fear Monster – he never speaks truth!

Just like Mr. Robin, if you aren’t operating out of the truth, you’re unlikely to get the results you are after no matter how persistent you are.

4. Evaluate Often

If you aren’t regularly evaluating your progress towards your goals you are putting yourself at a disadvantage – perhaps even setting yourself up to be persistent at pointless activities like Mr. Robin.

Scheduling time to reflect and assess your progress is essential! It allows you to take steps to adjust, adapt, and modify what you are doing and shift to persisting at more fruitful actions. Sometimes that means experimenting or requires greater consistency, but if you don’t pause to evaluate your progress, you won’t know until it’s too late.

My rhythm for evaluating is to review my progress at the end of each month. I don’t just stop and think on it, I actually write my thoughts down in my Work Journal. I refer back to what I’ve written often so that I don’t keep making the same mistakes!

After reviewing the data to determine my progress, I work through these simple questions:

• • • What went well?
    • What didn’t work?
    • How am I feeling about the process?
    • What needs to change?

Depending on your specific situation, you may prefer to evaluate:

• • • What do you need to keep doing?
    • What do you need to stop doing?
    • How are you feeling about the process?
    • What adjustments do you need to make to what you are doing?

According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions. Identifying what those fruitful 20% actions are is vital. Once you know what they are, then you are able to prioritize those efforts. Make the first thing you do each day the tasks or action steps that will yield maximum results and get you closer to where you want to be.

It typically takes me a couple of hours to evaluate at the end of the month, which might seem like a hefty chunk of time, but what I glean from that time is invaluable information that allows me to adjust what I’m doing and move forward in more productive ways.

You might prefer to evaluate at the end of each day, week, or quarter. The rhythm is up to you, but get into the habit of evaluating your progress and the effectiveness of your methods so that you are able to make improvements. See what works best for you.

5. Get Assistance!

I don’t know if Mr. Robin has bird friends or not. I do know that if he did have friends and spent time with them, he would discover that they too have been literally beating their heads against the windows in vain! Perhaps that insight would end his persistent window crashing.

The feedback friends or coworkers and insights from those who have successfully accomplished what you yearn to do are also extraordinarily helpful.

Having folks in your life who encourage you along the way – a game changer!

Enlisting the help of a professional coach who is able to bring to light blind spots, funky beliefs, negative mindsets, and persistent actions that are taking you nowhere are gold!

Being persistent is an excellent quality to have! Just make sure that you are being persistent at the activities that will truly get you the results you are after! No more busting your beak in vain, right?

To get the results you are after, what do you need to persistent at?

Originally posted on 4/30/2019, this post has been updated and revised just for you!