Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

1.7. Step Seven: Stick to It

The seventh step is perhaps the most important: Stick to it. Like most successful people, I have had my share of setbacks and outright failures. In fact, early in my career as a real estate investor, I lost a home in foreclosure. I could easily have given up at that point, admitted defeat, and declared that I was ill suited to invest in real estate. Instead, I learned an important lesson from my mistakes and kept trying until I became successful.

Everything I recommend in this book is proven to work, but this does not mean that the first time you try something I recommend it will work for you. It may not work the first time; or it may work well, but you won't see the positive results immediately. What is important is that you put what I recommend into practice and keep at it until you achieve the desired level of success.

I believe so much in the importance of sticking to it that I have coined my own word: sticktoitism. The official, dictionary version of the word is stick-to-itiveness, but I prefer my version—sticktoitism, the dogged determination to succeed in the face of an overwhelming challenge.