Perseverance is the work that you continue to do after getting tired of doing the work that you’ve already done. Character consist of what you do on the third and fourth tries. Refuse to be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.
Thomas Edison said that many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Edison tried over 2000 failing attempts to get the light bulb to work. When asked by a reporter about all of his failing attempts, Edison replied, “I have successfully identified over 2000 ways in which the light bulb will not work”. That’s persistence, perseverance, and most importantly, perspective. A river cuts through rock not because of it’s power, but because of it’s persistence.
If you have infinite patience and perseverance, there is no doubt, success is bound to come. Something that I often say to my karate students is, don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.