“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).
Julie @ HappinessSavouredHot says
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. :-)
Beth says
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.
Melanie says
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.
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
Good for you, Melanie! Your attitude is inspiring, and best of luck on the bar. We’ll all be rooting for you :)
Bonnie Nelson says
I misread the title. At first glance I thought it was “The secret of success is not being available to everyone” ; )
Joy says
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!
Andrew says
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!
Ronald@therichimmigrant says
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”
Cherie says
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.
Cherie says
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;-)
joshua becker says
Nice comment Cherie. That video was actually one of the two included at the very end of the post.
Cherie says
Oh, so it was! Even weirder! I could have gotten there from here, lol.
www.writinginpencil.com says
This is inspiring – slow and steady. Thanks, Josh!
Angel says
I’m so glad you came back. This post is exactly what I needed to hear today. Tks Josh :-)
Stephanie says
This post comes at the perfect time for me. Thank you.