From time to time I get frustrated. I wake up in the morning hopeful that something which will result in major profit for my business, happened while I was sleeping. Since I’d worked hard the day before as on every other day, it wasn’t like I was arbitrarily getting up out of bed hoping for miracles. Rather, I was waking up hoping to see the fruits of my labor. On most mornings I am able to keep things in perspective; but some mornings I become very disillusioned.

Nobody likes to struggle. And when you are struggling every day and can’t see any concrete evidence that you’re winning your battles, you’re bound to start thinking at some point that you’re struggling fruitlessly. This morning I found myself questioning the point of my ambitions and thinking that I would be better off quitting than continuing to struggle only to wake up to the same results every morning.

Sometimes you’re fighting a losing battle indeed, but most of the time when people quit they do so before they’ve given their best effort to win their particular battles. They find it easier to go with the “there’s no point anyway, I’ll never accomplish my goals no matter what I do” mentality over “I have to find a way no matter what it takes. I refuse to quit. I refuse to be defeated.”

Before you quit on your dreams because you wake up one morning and things aren’t what you hoped they would be, ask yourself if you’ve really tried everything and tried it all wholeheartedly. Also ask yourself if you’ve been reasonable in allowing enough time for the things that you have done to yield the desired results. If you planted a seed yesterday, for example, you won’t wake up today to find a tree fully grown and baring fruit. We all want what we want and we usually want it now, but sometimes it can take more time than we might like. This doesn’t mean we can’t or won’t fulfill our dreams. It just means that it will take a little bit longer and require us to work harder; but if we really want something having to work harder and longer to get it should not daunt us.

Set a time line by which you want to see certain things happen, and make sure the time you allow is reasonable. Don’t, for example, set a time line to make a million dollars for two weeks from the day you decide you want to become a millionaire. There are, arguably, no legitimate ways outside of games of chance, to make that kind of money in such a short period of time. Be reasonable, and be realistic; and if after you have allowed a reasonable amount of time to fulfill a reasonable goal you are still where you were when you started, then you can begin to rationally analyze your situation to determine if perhaps you might need to try a different course.

Here is an article I’ve just finished reading that I find very applicable to my own situation. Perhaps it might help you if you too are battling frustration and feeling tempted to give up on yourself and your dreams.

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Are You Persevering Or Enduring?
by: Jane Straus

Why try to make a distinction between perseverance and endurance? In both perseverance and endurance, we may struggle at times, feel fear of failure or rejection, or worry that we are not worthy of what we long for. So the distinction between perseverance and endurance can easily get blurred.

But perseverance and endurance take us down different roads so they are worth distinguishing. Endurance will lead us to a dead end whereas perseverance, although it may take us down a long and meandering path, offers up surprises, serendipity, and synchronicity.

Endurance can be identified by its symptoms—anxiety, boredom, self-criticism, addiction, low energy, avoidance, depression, lethargy—to name just a few that I discuss in Enough Is Enough! Stop Enduring and Start Living Your Extraordinary Life.

When we habitually wake up in the morning dreading that today will be a repeat of yesterday and the day before and the day before that, we are enduring, not persevering. The bad news is that endurance sneaks up on us. We don’t know we’re in endurance until we’re pretty miserable. The good news is that, once we recognize the sources of our endurance, we can say “Enough is enough!” and begin leading a more fulfilling life.

We endure because we’re fearful, self-judging, or believing a limiting thought. Often, these sources of endurance overlap such that we are experiencing two or even three of them. We may be fearful because of a limiting belief. For example, if I believe that I am not good enough in some way, I may be quite fearful of putting myself in situations that will likely trigger this belief.

The problem with latching onto our fears, self-judgments, and limiting beliefs is that they constrict us. How can I have new experiences that debunk my limiting belief about being unworthy if I avoid situations that have the potential of making me realize I was wrong? Instead, in endurance, I will get to be right…and miserable.

Perseverance isn’t necessarily any less challenging than endurance, but it does lead someplace new and different. Instead of being right and miserable, we get to be surprised and excited about life.

So what is perseverance? It is our willingness to commit to our spirit’s longings no matter what! No matter what fears, self-judgments, and limiting beliefs pop up to distract us or try to protect us from humiliation. Perseverance is committing no matter what others say the odds against our achieving our goals are. No matter what we have told ourselves about being too old, too young, too uneducated, too busy, or too poor. Perseverance is choosing to pay attention to our spirit rather than to all the chatter that has stopped us from living our extraordinary life.

Perseverance is like buying a car. When we purchase a new vehicle, we suddenly see the same car in greater numbers on the road. This isn’t because more people bought the same car on the same day we did, is it? It’s because our attention is now focused differently from where it was before. Wherever we focus our attention dictates what we see and experience. If we focus on our fears, self-judgments, and limiting beliefs, it’s like putting blinders on. These are all we will see and experience. On the other hand, if we focus on listening and attending to our spirit’s callings, we will see and experience extraordinary new people, events, feelings, and thoughts.

As soon as we shift from endurance to perseverance, we allow surprise, serendipity, and synchronicity to help our spirit along. We are now saying “yes” to the Universe, which expands our peripheral vision and gives us a new view of potentials and possibilities. Perseverance requires three things: a willingness to listen to ourselves, a willingness to be wrong about our prior fears, self-judgments, and limiting beliefs, and the courage to be explorers.

The first two requirements must come from within. The third one—courage—we can allow others to support us in. Find people who listen to their own spirits, who have beaten odds, live joyfully, and find compassion for themselves and those around them. These are your mentors and your heroes and heroines.

Many of us wait to listen to our spirit until tragedy or illness strikes. My wake-up call came in the form of a brain tumor. But we don’t need to wait to allow ourselves to be inspired. Let today—your child’s smile, your urge to paint, the sun warming your skin, a desire to help someone in need—be enough.