Be persistent to survive

Be persistent to survive today’s volatile business environment.

Steve Jobs. His name has become synonymous with success, innovation, stylish design – all the things that businesses yearn to achieve. But a major chunk of his career was defined by failure.

In 1976, he started Apple, which got off to a good start. But after an unsuccessful product launch in 1985, he got kicked out of his own company. Then he founded a new company called NeXT.

NeXT was unsuccessful from the very beginning, and it remained so until Apple bought it. But that didn’t happen until 1997 – 12 years after Jobs founded NeXT. Twelve years! Why, in all that time, didn't Jobs give up? The answer is one of the keys.

In business as in life, persistence is all about moving forward, looking for solutions, and working toward success. It’s also about retaining your resolve when the going gets tough.

A lot of being persistent comes down to being confident. Steve Jobs was successful because he believed in himself, despite the odds. He simply didn’t quit. He knew that, if he didn’t believe in himself, no one would.

The problem is, there’s not really a step-by-step manual to building self-belief. It’s not necessarily a quality you’re born with; it’s something that you have to learn and work on throughout your career.

You can start by developing a few confidence-boosting strategies for when you’re feeling low. For example, remind yourself of your leadership purpose. Ask yourself what compelled you to lead and why leadership is important to you. It might also be helpful to come up with your own personal mantra to keep you consoled and motivated during tough times – something like “Just keep moving forward” or “This too shall pass.”

Being confident is what will give you an edge as a future-shaping leader. It will help you think big, be assertive, and make the best decisions for your business.