A dream is a flame that burns out if you give up.
Throughout history, people have faced adversity and hardship, some give up, others persist and achieve their dreams. ‘Never Give Up’ is a theme that has featured on this blog regularly.
Two of my most read articles are ‘Don’t Give Up When Life Gets Hard’ ; and ‘Never Give Up Believing In Yourself’ . In this second article I wrote:
“Never give up, quit, lose hope or abandon your dream or goal. Don’t let anyone sabotage your efforts, don’t let them break your beliefs. No matter how difficult things may seem, believe in yourself and in your ability to succeed”.
I want you to know I wrote this for both you and me. I wrote it for those of us who have dreams and aspirations that mean so much to us. I wanted to provide something we could turn to when we feel like giving up.
In the process of achieving your goal, you’ll probably experience failure, criticism and maybe even mockery. There may be people, close to you, who even try to stop you. You may not succeed in the time line you set yourself, things may take longer to accomplish than you thought they would.
Well my message to you is, never give up! No matter how hard it gets, hang in there and persevere!
When problems confront you at home, work, school, in your relationships, with your friends and loved ones, and with your personal goals, things may seem almost impossible. You may feel like giving up, even running away. Well don’t, hang in there a little longer because just around the corner things could happen and the situation will turn itself around.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison
It’s natural that at some point on the journey we embark on in our lives, where we set ourselves a goal, where we follow our dream, that we get to a part where we feel like giving up on it. Where we are willing to accept failure. Where we no longer see it possible for us to achieve our big dreams, and so settle for mediocrity in life. Well don’t let this happen to you, you never know when you are nearing that huge break-through, you’ve put so much effort in already, let yourself carry on.
Milton Hershey went broke twice before succeeding in the candy bar business. The Pepsi Cola company went bankrupt three times. RH Macy started a department store that became world famous, after having gone broke six times.
I found a truly inspiring web page titled “But They Did Not Give Up’ and it includes many a famous person’s trials and tribulations before they broke through and reached their dreams. Let them inspire you to realise nothing is impossible. I assure you, if you are looking for inspiration go and read this.
You will read about the setbacks and heartaches of great and successful people, and it’ll show you that even the greatest successes throughout our history doubted themselves at times, and they felt discouraged lots of times. So if at the moment you are questioning yourself with doubts in your mind, it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. In fact, it probably means you’ve already shown how special you are by trying to accomplish something out of the ordinary.
“Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world”. Jane Addams
If you are looking for further encouragement, check out the film ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’. The Pursuit of Happiness is a 2006 American biographical drama film based on Chris Gardner ‘s nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. The film charts the hard times he faced and his eventual comeback. Chris went on to form his own multi-million dollar brokerage firm.
Have no doubts that the path to success and happiness is an uphill struggle. In the journey towards your dreams, you will face many obstacles and difficulties. You will have to endure many storms before you accomplish your dreams. That’s just life.
It will certainly take a lot of hard work, nothing worth achieving is ever easy, but it’s always worth it. As the famous quote goes, no journey is too great, when one finds what he seeks. So never turn around and retreat from your journey. Carry on moving up the ‘ trouble-filled path’ and eventually you will reach your destination, and the success it brings with it.
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
You are never a looser until you quit trying.
Pray to God, sailor, but row for the shore.
Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
Here are a few helpful tips to inspire you to hang in there despite how rough the road gets:
Believe in Yourself – Believe you can achieve the impossible. Stand strong and always believe in your visions and dreams.
Show perseverance – There will be many setbacks, obstacles, and failures. No matter how hard it gets you must hang in there and keep going in spite of your obstacles and challenges. When rough times come, stay focused and remember it is only temporary. The important thing is not to give up and keep a positive attitude to persevere to the end. So what if you keep hitting the wall. It may not be tomorrow, or next week or next month, but eventually the way will open for you.
Work hard – To accomplish anything in life, you must be willing to work hard. You must put in the time and effort so you can move towards your goal without being distracted. This one thing characterizes the road to success— so keep at it, keep learning, and never give up. Put the time in, it will all be worth it.
Visualise – If you want to keep your dream alive, you must be able to see it. This will have a great impact on the future results that you will come to experience as a result of that vision. It takes faith to see the end result before reaching the end. Dream the dream. Play it in your head. Enjoy the movie of your future.
Think Positive – Keeping a positive frame of mind gives you the power to keep standing and hanging on in the toughest times. Once a negative thought comes to your mind, you have to be aware of it and replace it with a positive one. You have to think positively and ignore your negative thoughts, allowing you to win over any situation.
Follow Your Dreams – Dream big! Dream without any limits! It is your responsibility to use your talents and to realise your full potential. Giving up because things get too hard is no excuse not to succeed. If you don’t even try to live that one big dream that you have, you’ll never be fulfilled. Unleash your potential! If we stop dreaming, if we stop reaching for the stars, if we remain only in our safety zones, we will never experience true success.
Overcome Fear – Failure and success are just words in a dictionary. They have no power over you, so do not be afraid of them. Remember it is only the journey that counts, so step out of your comfort zone and go for it.
Ignore Your Critics – If others tell you that you can’t do something, don’t listen to them! If they say that you are wasting your time, your energy, your money, or your efforts, don’t believe them! If they tell you that something is impossible, show them that it is possible! Remember: you know what you are capable of doing. You know what you want to do. As long as you believe in yourself it matters not a jot what others have to say.
and remember … Never give up.
“We can do anything we want to do, if we stick to it long enough.” Helen Keller
Dedicate your life to fulfilling your dream …in its entirety; but make sure you always include a happy family and amazing health as part of your priorities.
Make your life move forward, get crystal clear about what you want, and discover ways to make it happen while being unstoppable.
Never Give up! Let nothing stop you from achieving success. In the quest to attain your dream, be determined, be persistent, be relentless.
This blog has been created to inspire you to pursue personal growth. We hope it encourages you to find your passions and reach for excellence. We’d love to hear from you, whether in comment or send an e-mail and let us know something about yourself and your passion at coach@larry-lewis.com.
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
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I am always telling people this during NaNoWriMo. I learned in my second effort that as long as you keep pushing and keep trying, you can overcome some really challenging obstacles. As long as you keep going, you’ll reach your destination!
Thanks for sharing!
Grady you have a great philosophy. The key to success is to keep going, keep trying, and eventually you will win through.
Larry, woman seem to be the hardest on themselves, even when others are not. I am my worst critic and continuously evaluate everything I do. But I am a true believer in ‘never giving up’. Even when I feel like doing so, I always remember my children. The inspire me to do things when all the energy is gone and I’m tired. They are truly a blessing in my life:)
Mary there are always going to be times when we burn the midnight oil, when we are fighting fires all around us that a weaker person would say ‘i give up’. We must allow everything we love about life and in our life to inspire us to keep going, to have an inner belief that everything is going to work out in the end.
I love this the best! ‘When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.’ I end up making several knots as I am usually hanging there for awhile and don’t want one to slip LOL.
Anna, tying a knot and hanging on has served me well in my life. Its always avoided hells fury
In the quest to attain your dream, be determined, be persistent, be relentless.
Inspiring lines, and a wonderful post.So many of us give up when the going gets tough but that is the time to hang on.
Sulekha … wise words, thank you.
Inspiring encouragement indeed, Larry! I hope all your readers heed this advice.
Blessings!
Martha, thank you, i pray they do, and allow their lives to go from strength to strength. They need to have faith in themselves and i hope they come to your blog to learn how wonderful true faith is
don’t do it. its your life your dreams, if it is worth dreaming it’s is worth doing. here a story of a man who would not give up. he lives. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5956900/ns/dateline_nbc/t/desperate-days-blue-john-canyon/ great post Larry thank you and God Bless
Roy thank you so much for your comment, I’m going to take a look right now
I think my knot is growing thin….what about those that never gave up till their last breath and still lost anyway? :::::::::::::::::sigh::::::::::::::::: As always…XOXOXOXOX
Bongo, thank you for your positive slant today. Fight to the end is the motto that comes to mind. When those people who refer to passed away, maybe their last words were, Gode, even to the end, i never gave up, i always believed’, they would have had bliss from that last thought. Now just make sure you don’t give up, and the next period of your life is fantastic.