Immediately Comes After Persistence

When I send an email, my signature quote reads:  “Immediately comes after persistence.” I’m sure some people are wondering what that statement means so I will spend some time explaining. 

My favorite topic to discuss, hands down, is the subject of persistence. The reason is simple. Persistence is the only true secret to success. There are a lot of self-help books out there that give keys to success, but the truth is there are no secrets. The only proven way to success is persistence. That much is obvious, because you can’t get anywhere in life unless you travel all the way there! 

However, persistence can not exist separate from faith. And for me, my faith is in God. I’ve had a lot of moments in my life, my basketball career, and my career as a skill development trainer, where giving up actually seemed to make sense. But my faith in God and His ability to carry me through the dreams that He gave me, have kept me going. And this is what I have learned about God: “With God, even when nothing’s happening, something’s happening” (Dr. Dobson).  

This relates so well to the basketball court, because players must spend countless hours in the gym practicing and sweating. And so often, during this process it seems like nothing is happening. However, when those players step on the court, all of a sudden they see that something was happening. All of a sudden, almost “immediately” they could do something they couldn’t do before. That’s what I mean.  

In life, if you persist long enough and continue to work while you wait, God will bring the “Immediately.” All of a sudden, your persistence will pay off! In basketball, if you continue to work, through all the mistakes, through all the pain and sweat, success will come in some form or another. 

Ganon often says, “There is no microwave success.” He’s exactly right. There is no such thing as an overnight success. But if you persist long enough, you’ll eventually be labeled one!