This Secret Ingredient Makes All the Difference

“What do the founders of McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, the inventor of the light bulb, and the widow in today's story all have in common (Luke 18:1–5)? If you guessed "persistence," you're right! Before Thomas Edison turned on the first light bulb, he endured nine thousand failed attempts! Apparently, Colonel Sanders heard "No!" 1,009 times before anyone was sold on his "secret recipe." And Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, lived by a simple formula: #1 – never give up. #2 – always persevere. #3 – don't forget #1!”

― From Today in the Word, September 2003

The most powerful voice we ever hear is the sound of our own voice in our head, some people call it “self–talk.” For example, it’s a cold rainy December day and you’d much rather stay at home or in the office rather than get out and make those sales calls. The voice in your head says “I don’t feel well and with this kind of weather I might catch a cold. I can make those calls tomorrow. I think I’ll stay in and catch up on paperwork.” It would certainly be easy to listen to that voice but the top achievers and the more successful people have a simple answer. “On the other hand, if I do go make those sales calls I might close some sales, I might earn a big fat check, I might even have enough extra money I can do something nice for my family! I believe I’m going to go to work right now so it out of my way unless you’re coming with me!”

As a professional Turner doing many hundreds of demonstrations each show season often hear folks comment on how easy turning is for me. What they never see are the numerous failures which I experience as I learn to make new things before I finally achieve the success which they witness. They are unaware of the many practice hours I put in to prepare for each demonstration, or class, or presentation.

My most recent successful project is fancy Mason jar lids. There is a YouTube video and a free Mason Jar Lid PDF download available. What nobody saw, but me, with the first 15 or 20 tries which ended in useless pieces of firewood. God has given me the ability to understand things and to ultimately figure it out. But that only works because when I fail I try again and again and again until I finally figure out how to make it work. When something does not work, I have trained the voice in my head to say “You CAN do this! Try again and this time you will do better. When you finally succeed, you can share it with thousands of other people! Think of the families who will benefit from your persistence.”

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

― Calvin Coolidge

“Trying again is okay. Trying again and again and again is okay. It's sort of an infinite thing because the alternative is failure, and that's not okay.”

― Richelle E. Goodrich

Wishing you a blessed and Merry Christmas Season,

Ron and Janice Brown