More Thoughts on Overcoming Personal Adversity

The Road to Personal Improvement Is Paved With Persistence and Resiliency 

When times get tough and your situation looks bleak, perhaps these words from the novelist Charlotte Bronte will provide comfort and encouragement: "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcomed."

Being persistent and remaining on the path you've chosen will habitually require a great deal of patience, especially if you are having to deal with other people and all the baggage, troubles, emotional strife, self doubt, pessimism, anger, anxiety, and fear they carry with them. As the French poet Jean de la Fontaine said, "Patience and passage of time do more than strength and fury."

7 Key Elements of Life 

Rather than get angry at problematic situations and people, or attempt to blow through either of these with the power of your own convictions or actions, a judicial application of patience and fortitude will usually go a long way in creating a resolution. As the Irish proverb states, "For what cannot be cured, patience is best."

Here are three quotes by very different personalities that highlight the virtues of being patient and the pitfalls of being impatient:

Wise and slow; they stumble that run fast. ~William Shakespeare

The twin killers of success are impatience and greed. ~Jim Rohn

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error. ~Jean Baptiste Moliere

Persistence and perseverance also need to be applied with a deliberate and considered approach to your own self development. 

As David Fischman writes, "The true road to personal improvement is not miraculous; it is slow and calls for a great deal of perseverance, but it is indeed possible to progress along this road, and your effort will be amply repaid."  

Please take 15 minutes and write down some ideas on how you can be more persistent and resilient in facing the challenges, hurdles and obstacles today in the seven areas of life depicted in the visual above. 

And, if you or someone you know is looking for good motivational ideas and quotes in this area, please see our book Project You: Words of Wisdom, available at Amazon for just $6.45 in paperback and $3.88 in Kindle format.

This article is partially excerpted from our top-ranked personal development book Project You: Living A Determined Life, also available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.