I’ve started a lot of different exercise programs in my life. Some I started because I wanted to lose weight, some because I enjoyed a particular sport, and others because I just wanted to get into shape.

I have been variously successful. When I joined a team and had to show up regularly for practice and games, I was able to more easily keep the exercise going - at least until the season ended. Other times I quit after less than two weeks. You know how it goes. You decide to start the routine and the first two or three days are okay. Then you start to get a little sore, but you make yourself keep going because you know you need it.

But at about the two week mark something shifts. The determination is not quite as strong. Then one day it rains or you need to attend some function that interferes with your exercise time. Missing one day doesn’t seem like a problem, but one day turns into two, into three and the next thing you know you are not working out any more.

On the other end of the spectrum, I am working on a routine, now, that I have maintained consistently for over eight years. Of course whenever I have started a new exercise regimen, my desire has always been to maintain it, otherwise I would not have even begun.

So what made the difference this time? That’s a great question, because what is true for an exercise program is also true for business! It is a well known fact that a very low percentage of small businesses actually succeed more than just a few years. So what is the thing that allows us to maintain consistency over the long term?

In the end there is no shortcut to making a new business successful. The necessary ingredients are: 1) a great idea, 2) competent workers, 3) a workable business model, and 4) perseverance. The first three components are the easiest to deal with - not necessarily easy, but easier than the last. With the first three, all that is necessary is creative strategic planning, a little business education and some good management skills.

But this last ingredient falls into a different category. Here you have to learn how to manage your emotions so that the inevitable ups and downs of the start-up cycle don’t destroy your dream. It takes a huge amount of hard work to get a new business up and successful. If you don’t have the inner strength to persevere through the struggle, you will end up on the scrap heap of failed small businesses.

The Five Step Formula for Keeping On

Successful perseverance begins and ends with a good personal development plan. It is the process of strengthening your personal inner core to the point you are able to stand strong in the face of adversity. Knowing the formula is a great place to start, but even with the knowledge many people fail. Success does not happen because of what you do or what you know. It happens because of the person you become.

These five steps can be applied at different levels. Most people think of them in terms of completing a task - and that is okay when there is a task that needs to be accomplished. But for creating success, we need a broader understanding. We need a formula which creates a life that is successful. The various smaller tasks that we do in life emerge from that. This five step formula is the explanation of a process that, if implemented, will help you become the kind of person who can persevere to success.

Step 1 - Know Your Purpose

Purpose is essentially the reason you do something. It has been said that if we have a big enough reason we can accomplish almost anything. On the flip side, without a reason we will not have the motivation to make it through even the smallest tasks.

Actually you do have a purpose in everything you do. If you start a business there was a purpose that moved you to do it. If you quit a business there was a purpose to that. The only problem is, most people have not identified what those purposes are, and when the purpose is unidentified the activities that emerge out of it are unintentional. If the purpose is not intentional it is based on an emotional response - and when the emotions change, the purpose changes without you even realizing it.

Purpose, to be effective, must be intentional and it must come out of the very core of your being. It is not good enough to start a new business just because it makes you feel good to be a business owner. You have to want it to fulfill something deeper - some underlying ambition that propels you to the next level in your own personal development.