YOU ARE BOTH

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

The person who perseveres will get to the end of this seemingly never ending road, the obstinate one, who refuses to begin, won't.

The optimist or the pessimist?

We are all both at different times, our success or failure determined by how much of each, how often.

WILL YOU DO IT?

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."

Victor Hugo 

19th century French poet, dramatist, novelist

Agreed.

We are all capable of doing much more than we do.

Think how better off you would be if each day you did one thing more (or in the case of bad, less) than you otherwise will (or should) do.

Wanting To Is Not Enough

"He who is firm in will molds the world to himself."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

18th century German poet/author

A poetic argument for being strong-willed, but what this doesn't mention is the equally important need for power to back up your conviction.

And it also doesn't take into account that one can be both strong-willed and wrong at the same time.

Just beginning your career, or maybe wondering why 10 years into it, you're not getting promotions as are your peers?

Think about your will power, ability to reason, and power to influence others, in concert with each other as opposed to being separate entities.

Too much of one, too little of the others and you won't get where you want to be.

The Difference Between Intention and Accomplishment

"Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes."

Chinese proverb

What you want to do, what you will do.

There is a big difference.

The Coming New Day: Who's Got The Rocket On Their Back?

"I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage."

Friedrich Nietzsche
19th century German philosopher

These are certainly times of resistance, pain and torture are they not?

No matter if you are working for someone else, working in your own company, attempting to start a company or unemployed looking for work, your will is being challenged, possibly more so than ever before.

However note that Mr. Nietzsche did not say our will to succeed is proved only by our ability to endure but as well by our ability to turn adversity to advantage.

How about you; enduring only or getting ready to go on offense as well?