Dr. Doug Fullington

The key to success is passionate persistence. Whenever anyone succeeds, they do so primarily because they persist through every obstacle. They refuse to give up. We all love to hear stories about the person who overcame great odds to win the Olympic gold medal or to make it to the top of their profession. We think they have some special gift that allows them to succeed without pain of effort. However, they are no different than us. They feel the pain. They frequently want to give up. We were awestruck with the swimming prowess of Michael Phelps in the Beijing Olympics, and even though we heard the story of how he got up at 4:30 every morning before school to train and then went back to the pool again in the afternoon, we just cannot fathom that he did this for 6 hours a day, every day for years. We don't even go to school or to work every day 7 days a week.

The real difference for people like Michael Phelps is that they are passionate about their pursuit. They love what they do and want to spend as much time as possible doing it. The hours of grueling practice are worth it when they cross the finish line with the fastest time. It is not talent alone that allows them to succeed. Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."  Persistence is the prince of the virtues of success.

The secret to applying persistence is to avoid drudgery. If you dread doing something, it will be impossible to stick with it for long enough to succeed. You avoid drudgery by cultivating your passion. What is it that you are passionate enough about to spend 10,000 hours to become an expert? You can pick any area of your life to apply this concept - professional, relationships, financial, health or any other. My passions include practicing healthy behaviors and sharing what I have learned with people like you.

When I tell the story about becoming vegetarian and losing over 60 pounds in one year, people express interest but say that they could never do that themselves. Losing weight was hard work for me. It continues to be hard work. Over time, I have gained back as much as 15 pounds, but I recommit to my goal and lose the weight again. I do not see the weight gain as failure, but rather the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. I started as mostly vegetarian - I had fish once a week - then became vegan and am now mostly raw vegan. I started exercising by jogging slowly through the neighborhood, then took up cycling and have evolved into doing triathlons. The point is that each day, each month and each year, I became healthier and stronger because I passionately persisted. I am the healthiest now that I have ever been in my life.

Have you ever started a diet only to give up after a few days or a few weeks? Did you begin the year with a New Year's resolution to go to the gym 3 days a week only to trail off to nothing in the past few weeks? I can empathize with your defeat. I frequently begin new projects with passion, only to see the passion fade and the projects left incomplete. Yet, I continue to improve my health and get better, stronger, and faster like the 6 Million Dollar Man. What is it that makes the difference for me or for someone like Michael Phelps? Successful people combine passion with persistence. Like flowing water carving the Grand Canyon over 10,000 years, persistence will carve your own path to success. But, to be persistent, you must cultivate your passion.

You cultivate your passion by discovering the reason you want to succeed. If you have a big enough Why, the How is easy. I know why I want to be healthy. I have wanted to be a physician since I was in the 3rd grade. I have been interested in health for as long as I remember. I was fascinated by the colored, layered pictures of the human body in the World Book Encyclopedia when I was a child. The first picture was of a normal appearing person. As I turned the plastic page, the skin was removed to reveal the individual muscles under the skin. The next page showed the blood vessels, then the organs and finally the skeleton. I wanted to know how the human body worked. I was also interested in human potential and personal growth. The burning questions in my mind were: "What makes the human body work the way it does?" and "Why do people succeed?" These intertwining interests grew from a smoldering inquisitiveness to a burning desire to know and experience peak health and massive success. I am a busy physician, husband, and father, but I make the time to devote to exploring these questions by writing this blog, cycling, studying, and sharing what I learn with my family, friends, patients and you. I love what I do.

You will succeed in the same way. You may just have a passing fancy to lose weight, write a book, or start a new business. You may be thinking that it would be nice to achieve your goal, but habits take over, and you go about your daily life like you always have. You do what you have always done, and you get what you have always gotten. It is time to make a change. It is time to get off the couch, fan the flames of your passion and persist until you have succeeded. Pull out pen and paper and write your passionate purpose. What do want to achieve? Write it down and keep it with you at all times. Review it whenever you have a break. Read it aloud as soon as you wake up and just before going to bed when your subconscious mind is most susceptible to suggestion. Think about your goal all day long. Talk about it with other people. Look for related videos on YouTube. Read books about how to achieve it. Immerse yourself in the culture of success. By focusing on your goal throughout the day, you will develop the passion to persist until the object of your desire is firmly in your grasp.