The Importance of Staying Power
Staying power is an underrated concept.
I first began paying attention to it back in my Amway days. What I noticed was that the most successful distributors weren’t necessarily the best or brightest of the bunch. They were the ones who simply took consistent positive action longer than anybody else.
The people who “tried out” the business for a few months… usually fizzled out… and never had much success. But the ones who stuck around (and followed the system) seemed to do much better.
I then noticed this same phenomenon in other industries as well: real estate agents, mortgage brokers, even copywriters.
When I became a copywriter, I began thinking for the long haul. Of course, I had short-term goals — like how much I needed to make each month to pay my bills — but my overall goal was to outlast my competitors.
Because what you’ll notice after a couple years is that the competitive landscape changes. Some competitors leave, decide to pursue new opportunities.
Every time a competitor leaves, there’s a vacuum. And those who benefit the most are the guys and gals who are still standing. They get to pick up the business their competitor left behind.
Staying Power in the Bible
In Luke 14:28-30, Jesus says:
For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
When you set out to accomplish something — in your business or in your personal life — how much consideration do you give to what’s required to complete it?
If you’re like me, you probably start many things that are never finished because you’re in love with an idea. Rather than count the cost, you just get started.
But if you truly want to succeed, it’s critical to think about what will be required of you each and every month — and whether or not you can keep it up long enough to finish what you set out to accomplish… and… outlast your competitors.
That’s staying power.
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. This is not an endorsement of Amway, by the way. If you discover you’re involved in something shady, fraudulent, cultish, etc. — get out!
