This is a 30 day mental cleanse assignment based on Chapter 9 of
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill…
There are at least 20 blog posts I can do on this chapter but today
I am going to focus on the title.
Persistence-The Sustained effort Necessary to induce Faith
I can’t think of a group of people more persistent than those in
this Mastermind.
Everyone that winds up here, has done so through sheer
determination and unwillingness to give up…persistence.
Many have failed forward for years, some are new on the scene
but already seeing all the holes in the system, some absolutely
positive they will never touch MLM again…we all had the
Persistence to open one more book…and it’s changing our lives.
As I look back at my life, persistence should have been my middle name!
I was thinking back…what one event in my life stands out most to me
regarding the word persistence. Nursing school? Getting out of a
wheelchair, twice? Learning how to use my phone? Ha Ha!
There are many, but if I had to choose one, it would be a bitter cold
January day. I found myself lying on the frozen ground being
pelted with ice as I slowly crawled my way along, reaching up with
a screwdriver handle to break the ice off of my electric fence.
My wheelchair was worthless on the ice and almost 2 inches of it
had accumulated on the strands overnight, weighing them down so low
I was afraid the horses would just step right over it.
I had no income and had just emptied my savings account buying hay
for them to get through the winter. If they got out I was afraid
they would head straight for the hay or get out onto the road, both
would have been disatrous.
Cold, wet, exhausted and wracked with pain, I pushed forward thinking
surely I was almost done…when I saw the small tree that had fallen
across the fence.
I realised I had been working for hours and without taking care of
this tree, it was all for nothing. What was I going to do? I couldn’t
use my truck, it was stuck right where it was. If I had the strength
to get to the barn, grab a rope and catch a horse I could have them
pull it off but that wasn’t an option either. I belly crawled over to
the tree, rolled onto my back, put my feet on it and using my shoulders
and head as a brace I pushed. It moved, slightly.
An hour later, I was still there, shaking now, losing feeling in my
fingers and toes, my coordination failing, every push excruciating,
I finally collapsed into a sobbing wet pile of human. I just layed there,
crying. As I grew too tired to even cry, I noticed the stillness
around me. It was eerily quiet, my body had stopped shaking…I
didn’t even feel the cold anymore. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep.
As I layed there peacefully drifting off, images and memories
would float in and out of my consciousness…my kids, my grandkids,
my parents, friends…things from my childhood…a story that I
used to listen to on a record as a kid…the little match girl.
It seemed so cozy here, after years of pain and praying for death
at times, I was so relieved to be in this state of nothingness.
Then the nothingness seemed to bend. It was as if something was
pushing at me, I was comfortable and didn’t want to awaken, but
it was persistent and I came to with one of my mares nudging
me and licking my face.
In that moment, I had a choice. Part of me really wanted to just
go back to sleep. I knew I could end it all right there. I also
knew, I had been awakened for a reason.
I had Faith…that one day, things would improve for me.
That I could get that tree off of that fence, get inside and see
better days…so I pushed…and I pulled…and eventually, that
tree fell clear of the fence. I crawled back inside, pulled off my
wet clothes, got under about 4 blankets and passed out.
The title says that Persistence is the sustained effort necessary
to induce Faith…I say, Faith is what gives us the strength, ability
and will power to have persistence.
I think it is Faith that has brought us here together in this group.
Faith that we can help ourselves and others by doing this type of
mindset work, combining energies and applying these principles with
persistence until we succeed.
The MFF ebook “nudges” people…like my mare. It wakes people up
and brings them around. It gives them Hope. It whispers
“Don’t get too comfortable in that giving up place…you were
meant for bigger things…” When I read the ebook, I had choice…
I could have stayed all cozy where I was. Convinced that I was a
failure…that the tree would never fall free. It would have been
so easy to stay asleep…
But I knew I had been awakened for a reason. That book gave me faith
to keep pushing, to have persistence. It led me to a team of people
working together for every ones greatest good, even in different companies.
It was like being awakened from that frozen dream to see
Michael Dlouhy arriving on a back hoe with a whole construction crew!
They lifted that tree off of the fence, carried me inside, built a fire,
fed me a warm meal and taught me how to build a better fence! Ha Ha!
Thank you Michael, Linda and the entire MFF family, keep nudging <3
Katherine