If you could ask a billionaire one question what would it be?

Dave Ramsey, a millionaire financial advisor, had his chance one afternoon. He had been looking forward to this meeting for a while and picked a simple question to ask:

What one book would you recommend for somebody who wants to achieve success?

The billionaire’s reply caught him off guard:

“When I asked him to recommend a business title, I was not prepared for his response: ‘Aesop’s Fable: The Tortoise and the Hare,’ he said. ‘Every time I read it, the tortoise wins. Slow and steady continues to win the race.’”

If you want to achieve insane goals, then you should practice pacing yourself. Persistence is often the secret to success.

I learned this lesson the hard way while building my first company. It was a painfully slow start. People didn’t immediately latch on to what I had to offer, and they sure weren’t ready to shell out their dollars. But I wasn’t giving up any time soon.

It took nearly 6 months to find my first paying customer. The next month I got 5 more. Today I’ve actually had to close that side of the business due to so many requests and have started building a more scalable service.

If you’re on the road towards success some stretches will feel like deserts. Keep going.

To help you make it to the finish line, and perfect your persistence here are 4 tips.

1. Get Creative

People like Benjamin Franklin and the Wright brothers are known for the persistence. Even against incredible odds they invented objects that have literally reshaped the human story.

What they don’t get enough credit for though is their creativity. They had to try hundreds of different solutions to solve their single issue.

When struggling against your own roadblocks, get creative. Try ridiculous methods of solving the problem. At the very least this will keep you interested and motivated to continue. At the most, you could end up in our history books.

2. Stoke Your Passion

It’s true that positive feelings alone will not get you to the finish line. But they can be a great source of strength.

Learn to use your passion as an anchor. Answer this question: What was your why for starting?

During those dry months of no sales I had to remember that my passion wasn’t just to have a successful business. I wanted to connect businesses and their audiences in a unique and meaningful way.

Remembering my why helped fuel my passion and which in turn made me more persistent.

3. Kill Doubt

In my opinion, nothing is more detrimental to a dream than a negative nancy. Don’t put up with it.

If you have friends, coworkers or even family members who are constantly pointing out your failures and hurting your motivation, shut them out. Your success is more important than other people’s opinions.

Cultivate a positive attitude in your life. Listen to podcasts, read books, and watch webinars that build into you. This will help to kill the doubt that springs out of your own head. This can be the most difficult battle to fight but you can win!

4. Stick to Your Purpose

It’s impossible to stick with something that is out of line with who you truly are. Finding your purpose is like finding your rhythm. It’s not easy at first, but the more you practice the more natural it becomes.

The more inline whatever it is you are trying to accomplish is with your purpose, the easier it will be to persist. Sometimes the reason you can’t see a project through is because it’s asking you to be someone you are not.

Slow and steady my friends. That is one key to success that you can begin to implement right away.

Persistence is rare. And that is why it wins.

Photo courtesy of Victor1558 via flickr