The Power of Persistence

Today, Jimmy DaSaint and I were working out on the weight pile when the word ‘persistent’ came up in our conversation. We both agreed that persistence is the one trait that all successful people have in common. Without persistence you will not be successful for long. Everybody goes through ups and downs in their life journey, but it’s not what you go through but how you deal with it when trouble or situations arrive. It made me think back to the one time I almost gave up on everything.

The year was 1995. I had just been arrested for trying to purchase 100 kilos of cocaine from an undercover DEA Agent. On that strange bizarre day it felt like I had the whole weight of the world on my back and shoulders. One of my closest friends had betrayed me and set me up for an undercover drug sting. The worst part about the entire situation was that I had been doing a favor for a friend. What a fool I was. Once again I had separated myself away from my children. Something that I had promised them I would never do. See, it’s alright to break a promise to yourself, but it’s not cool at all to break a promise to your children. They never forget it.

Around that time of my life I was just ready to shut down. Life was no longer fun for me. For the first time in my life, I felt like a victim; blaming the world for all my problems and making excuses for why I had put myself in that position – again! It was truly one of the worst moments in my life. Then one day a good friend of mine named Gordon Hall came to my cell and offered me some words of encouragement. He also had a book in his hand called The Richest Man in Babylon.

After a touching conversation with Gordon, he challenged me to read the book. I accepted his challenge and a few days later I had finished reading the entire book. I learned some very important things as I turned those pages. What put me in prison wasn’t fate or destiny or chance, but my persistence to further my drug empire. From reading the book I learned that persistence can be used for good or bad. The book completely changed my life, and the way I thought and looked at situations that I faced. As such, I turned my negative persistence to a positive persistence.

At that time I was flat broke. Everyone had abandoned me except my mother. Still I was persistent and determined to succeed with my life, no matter how hard the obstacles were. I had no choice but to start from the bottom and work my way up. As each new day came and passed, I became more and more persistent with turning my life around. I refused to be broken.

Now after all of these years spent in prison, my persistence has become a part of who I am. In the book The 12 Universal Laws of Success, it says, “Persistence is to complete whatever you set out to do.” I set out to win the chess game of life. With each new day, my persistence is bringing me closer to my checkmate. – $RR$