Persistence: The Key to Success Essay Sample

“Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.” – Swami Vivekananda. This quote symbolizes a very important belief in my life. I believe that no matter how difficult a trial in life may seem, one can overcome it through effort and persistence. As long as one does not give up or become demotivated by failures, they will be able to reach their goals. I believe that persistence is the key to success.

In order to reach your goal, it is important to see things through, and be able to have resilience. Failures are a common part of life; no matter how offsetting a failure may be, it is important to be persistent. I came to have this belief through the events of my own life. When I was in high school, my goal was to graduate in the top ten percent of my school in order to have automatic admission to university. Accordingly, I took many advanced placement classes to ensure a good GPA. One class that I had trouble in was AP world history. This was my first AP class in high school, and the amount of work was overwhelming. Each night, I would spend hours on notes, preparing for class. My first test was coming up, and I felt like I couldn’t retain the mass amount of information being taught. The night before the test, I stayed up trying to make sure I knew all the content. Despite my efforts, I ended up not doing well on the test. It was the first test I had failed in high school, and I came to the point of wanting to drop the class. However, I kept on persisting because it was my first AP class, and I did not want to give up easily. I tried to study small amounts each day rather than the night before. As a result of my perseverance and resilience, I was able to perform well on the next test. I even ended up having an A in the class. This cycle continued for most of my AP classes in high school. Even if I failed a test, I made sure to try to study differently or do anything I could to change this outcome. By putting in time, effort, and most certainly persistence, I was able to overcome the obstacles in the way of reaching my goal of graduating in the top 10%.

Success is not easy to achieve; however, through enough persistence one is able to anything they set their mind to. It was not easy to be a good student, and it is something that took a lot of effort, but it helped me reach my goal and be where I am today. I was able to become successful through persistence, and so I started believing that if I can persist, I can become successful.