Concept
Persistence Habit
The persistence habit is Napoleon Hill's claim that most people quit at the first setback and that persistence can be built from a definite purpose, a plan and supportive people; it helps when it means keeping at a goal while changing the method, and hurts when it means repeating a plan that is not working.
Hill treated persistence as the quality that separates people who get what they want from people who only wish for it. He listed what builds it (a clear purpose, desire, self-reliance, a definite plan, accurate knowledge, cooperation and habit) and what weakens it, from indecision to fear of criticism. Much of this matches experience: most worthwhile goals take longer than expected, and people who keep showing up after a setback get more chances to succeed. Research on related traits such as grit is more mixed than popular accounts suggest, and persistence is not always wise. Continuing to pour money into a failing shop because of what you have already spent is the sunk-cost trap, not virtue. The workable rule separates the goal from the method: keep the goal, review the method on a schedule, and decide in advance what evidence would make you stop.
A real-life example
Hakan, an electrician in Samsun, has been trying to build an online course for two years. Sales are close to zero. He keeps the goal (a second income from teaching) but sets a review: if the course sells fewer than ten copies in three months after a price change, he will switch to in-person weekend workshops. It does, and the workshops fill.
How to use it
- 1Write your goal and your current method on separate lines.
- 2Set a review date and the result that would make you change the method.
- 3On that date, change the method if needed and keep the goal unless the evidence says the goal itself is wrong.