Anyone who wants to achieve authentic, and lasting success in any venture s/he embarks upon, will find my 10 chapter Self-Development Bible™, a reliable guide.

If you nurse high aspirations or ambitions, accept – now – that you WILL be “sorely tested” – with heart breaking bouts of adversity, before you “arrive” (as James R. Cook – author of New York Times Bestselling “Startup Entrepreneur” noted).

And this is why I believe the MOST important chapter in my book, for anyone who wishes to actualise his/her full potential, is Chapter 3: Become An Ant™.

What follows below, is an excerpt from that chapter of my book about how to develop mental stamina. This (i.e. mental stamina) is what you need to overcome, the routine delays, setbacks and disappointments, likely to come your way, as you pursue your desired goal.

The third way you can use Self-Development to create the future you want, is for you to BECOME AN ANT™ (figuratively speaking of course!).

ANTS Exhibit Focus, Determination and Perseverance

FOCUS, DETERMINATION AND PERSEVERANCE are three (3) key qualities considered essential for success in any area of endeavour.

1. A person with focus knows what he wants, and has his mind set on getting it.

2. One who is determined will not be put off by discouragements or temporary setbacks.

3. The person who can persevere will not give up trying until s/he has achieved a set objective.

Perseverance – according to great achievers like Thomas Edison is the most crucial.

Edison actually called it: “stick-to-it-iveness“.

Considering that he chose to continue his work despite many thousand failures, one can appreciate how he can be so sure about this.

If you have ever tried to stop an ant without killing it, you will know that it exhibits these qualities quite well in the way it responds to obstacles in its path.

No matter what you do (except you kill it), you cannot stop an ant from trying again and again to get around, go over or under whatever obstacle you put in it’s path.

Put the ant in a sealed jar and it will keep moving everywhere, searching for a way out, till it eventually drops dead.

Ants provide a perfect example of focus, determination and perseverance at work.

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence; Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent” – Ray Kroc (Founder of McDonalds)

Just imagine if you were to adopt the “ant” ATTITUDE, to challenges and setbacks or disappointments you encounter, in trying achieve your goals.

You would become virtually unstoppable!

This “ant” mentality is one major reason why Michael Jordan has become a living legend of American – even world – basketball.

During matches, when the last seconds were ticking away for the buzzer to sound and his team was trailing, Jordan would never give up!

He would continue fighting to score additional points to help his team win!

This fighting spirit saw him pulling his team out of defeat many times – when it mattered most – to win major championships.

So, when next your plan fails to work out or things seem to be going badly wrong, don’t fall apart.

Take a step back and THINK about what you possibly did wrong or need to do better, then make necessary corrections and TRY AGAIN.

Like Napoleon Hill said, you must take failure(temporary defeat) as a sign that your plan still needs some work. In other words, it is not yet good enough.

So go back and re-do the plan, then come right back and try again.

Remember : “Quitters never win and winners never quit”.

True, it’s easier said than done, but it can be done:

Just be an (intelligent) ANT™!