“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” —Thomas A. Edison
A few months ago, a friend stumbled upon my Twitter account. We had known each other briefly in the past, but had since lost contact. He called me right away, “Wow, Joshua. I just noticed your Twitter account. How in the world did you get so many followers?” Flattering, I know.
Now, we both know Twitter followers are an incomplete and inconsistent measure of success. There are plenty of ways to game the system (heck, you can even buy 10,000 Twitter followers for less than $100 if you want). Besides, follower count always seems more impressive from the outside. Nevertheless, it is considered by some to be an important measure of influence… on with the story.
There is no short answer to success on social media (entire books have been written on the subject), I was more than happy to share some of my strategies.
But, my first response to his question was short and to the point.
“Consistency,” I said, “I credit most of my online success to consistency and perseverance. I’ve been writing about minimalism for a long time—over six years. And all my online pursuits have been tied to one simple message: Own less, live more.”
I think this is an important truth that is often overlooked. Consistency is a valuable tool for earning influence. It develops credibility. It provides opportunity to grow in expertise. And just like compounding interest, it builds upon itself.
But consistency was not a foregone conclusion in my life. In fact, early in my blogging career, I almost quit.
I blogged for almost one year and had seen some growth, but nothing too exciting. So I quit for an entire month (February, 2009). I returned with a short, simple blog post about donating old prom dresses. I remember hearing an interesting commercial on the radio that prompted the post. Christy left a simple comment. It went like this, “Come back Josh.”
It was short. It was simple. But it was encouraging enough for me to carry on with writing and blogging and simplicity.
Over the next several years, I gained more readers and followers. And my digital influence continued to grow. Why? Because I got better? Probably. But also because I became consistent to my message.
Consistency is an important element in success. And the only prerequisite for consistency is perseverance.
Perseverance can be hard. But, here’s the beautiful part: Perseverance is one secret of success available to each of us.
Regardless of our background, education, social status, or passion, we can all persevere.
We will never reach our fullest potential or purpose in life until we learn to push through the frustration, overcome the obstacles, and remain committed to our pursuit—no matter how difficult the circumstances.
Of course, the very nature of perseverance requires that we face trials. There is no perseverance without difficulty. This makes it a painful skill that many will shy away from. But these trials make perseverance one of the most rewarding personal traits we can ever develop.
People who succeed in their dreams learn the skill of perseverance. They are the ones who refuse to give in regardless of the score or the current obstacles they may be facing. And in the end, they achieve success—regardless of how you choose to define it.
Richard St. John agrees (3:30). So does Ira Glass (1:54).
Thanks for this Joshua. I think it can be really difficult for people to tell the difference between a trial and a failure. A trial means to work even harder at something, while a failure means maybe we should let go and walk away. Still, I love the reminder that trials are to be expected– and overcoming them can lead to great things!
I so needed to read this today. I have been following you for a couple of years now and still look forward to every new post. You are a blessing! Thank you:)
This is this message I so needed today for many reasons…so many of us need to hear it often to run this race of life–thank you:)
https://awellstockedlife.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/the-legacy-of-owning-stuff-be-careful-what-you-dont-purchase/
Hey Joshua,
Thanks for sharing the post.
I think perseverance is definitely the basic element for the success.
One should definitely go for a movie with the same topic
“The Shawshank Redemption”
Without even knowing it, encouragement to persevere was exactly what I needed! Thanks so much for persevering to bring this insight to others like me.
Well said! Perseverance can feel like an almost impossible mountain to climb some days, but when you keep at it, it will always lead to success. I’ll have to bookmark this for the days I feel like I’m failing and just want to give up!
You are so right. I just happened to land on a very nice blog (before I came to yours) that lasted only 1 year, and had 3 followers. The post I read was the last and dated to 2011. My thought was “I wonder why this blogger stopped writing. This had great contents”.
I think many, many people are glad that you came back. :-)
This is very encouraging. Another great takeaway from this post is you have one message…and it’s simple. This translates into so many areas of our lives. Simple is better.
You have no idea how timely this post is for me. Last year, after months of preparation during what I would call the worst and scariest time of my life, I faced a disappointing failure of my bar exam. Upon making the grizzly discovery, I had to gather myself, regroup, and redouble my efforts. A lot of changes–really to my entire life–needed to be made. But good and healthy ones. In about two days, I’ll be retaking the exam. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But at the very least, I am proud for being able to pick myself back up and keep fighting. I proved to myself that I am brave. Now I just hope to see everyone on the other side.
Thank you many times over for the incidental pep talk, and for all the work you do.
Good for you, Melanie! Your attitude is inspiring, and best of luck on the bar. We’ll all be rooting for you :)
I misread the title. At first glance I thought it was “The secret of success is not being available to everyone” ; )
Wow, what a great and timely post! I am trying hard to be more consistent and had planned a writing day today. This is just what I needed. I love Ivan Webb’s comment, too — I’m going to keep those eight words where I can see them every time I sit down to write!
This post reminds me of the book I’m reading right now called The Slight Edge – how simple and consistent efforts create amazing results over time.
Very basic principle but so easy to forget!
Andrew,
The slight edge is a great book which I have in my collection.Jeff Olson explains it best about how our small efforts seem insignificant at first but add up to something great if you persevere.We also need to realize it goes both ways and if we do many wrong things they will add up too.There is a quote by Eddie Cantor which says “It takes 20 years to make an overnight success”
Great, great post, Joshua. With so many distractions, and so little feedback in the beginning, it’s easy to lose momentum. Thanks for distilling everything down to one simple antidote: perseverance. One word that means so much. Just keep going.
I wanted to add this – after commenting here I stumbled across a very short video by Ira Glass on the creative process and perseverance:
http://youtu.be/PbC4gqZGPSY
Obviously, this is what I needed today;-)
Nice comment Cherie. That video was actually one of the two included at the very end of the post.
Oh, so it was! Even weirder! I could have gotten there from here, lol.
This is inspiring – slow and steady. Thanks, Josh!
I’m so glad you came back. This post is exactly what I needed to hear today. Tks Josh :-)
This post comes at the perfect time for me. Thank you.
Well this one hit home. I quit my blog when a series of family disaster hit and couldn’t get my groove back. I see now, years later, that I could have pushed through and the writing would have shown the huge changes in me and my life to my audience. Writing even a smaller blog every day would have lent CONSISTENCY to my chaotic life at that time. I have read that most bloggers hit the wall at Year 3. If you can push beyond that point, you’ve got staying power. I love the lack of goop in your blog page as much as the content, Joshua. Prom dresses? Who knew!
Great post! I needed to hear it and I appreciate your perseverance because you inspire me!
Ditto.
Thanks for this beautiful post! You have tapped on a fundamental truth, and there is something very generous about the way you share it. I will be reading it to my son.
Btw: I started blogging a few months ago. The thought of quitting crossed my mind early on, but I have decided to continue because I find it very satisfying. In the end, if you are living authentically and doing activities that enrich your life, that’s what matters.
When a teaching colleague of mine died his Year 6 students reported that they would always remember him for three simple rules (for success) that he had taught them:
1. Be yourself
2. Be your best (and)
3. Never give up
Only 8 words but what a message. Fifteen years later they are still etched in my mind too.
Wow, Ivan Webb, powerful comment. Thanks for sharing. By the way, further to my previous comment: most of the activities that genuinely enrich our lives also enrich the lives of others. That is key – caring about people and ideas beyond ourselves
Josh – Thank you. I needed this.
I think it is more fun when you see your hard work paying off after a while. Who wants 10,000 followers if they’re fake? There is nothing better than that feeling of accomplishment when you’re successful with something that took a bit of perseverance.
Great post, Joshua.
It’s comparable to riding a bike through the hills. You gain momentum to get up the next hill from the hill you just topped….and just as you’re alllmmmooost at the top, the momentum is gone and it’s nothing but you pushing hard, with all your might to Get. To. The. Top. The thing with mountain biking those is you can’t quit and turn around because either we you go, there are hills to climb!
Anyone struggling to finish an endeavor should hit the hills on a bike to gain self-awareness and confidence needed to succeed.
I couldn’t agree more with this post.
Perseverance and showing up every day is the single most important thing to being successful everyday.
Everyone who thinks of an over night success never sees the consistency put in by those who went through it.
Just show up, no matter what. Some days you’ll produce great work and others it will be crap. But just show up.
Awesome post Josh, I think you nailed this one!
George, you’ve nailed it! “Just show up!’ One of my favorite sayings. Deep! :)
‘There is no perseverance without difficulty’ – and perseverance produces character and character produces hope. Words of truth, thank you Joshua.
This is well said. As someone that blogged and stopped several times and now doesn’t even blog your advice about simplicity and a clear message that you post about in various ways is probably key to having a following. Its funny I used to desire to have a bunch of followers on twitter and on a blog and now I find myself less worried. In fact I have erased or paired down most of my digital footprint. I had several hundred twitter followers and just deleted my account one day. IDK just me thinking out loud.