In his book Tribes, Seth Godin talks about Chris Sharma, an American rock climber who forever changed the way climbers looked at scaling a cliff.
Instead of the normal left-right, left-right approach of hand over hand, Sharma jumps (known as a dyno).
It?s a leap of faith at its purest, since a fall while rock-climbing can be a long way down.
Seth?s analogy is that because of Sharma?s vision, the status quo needn?t be the norm, and experimenting with how far you can push the limitations of the dyno can lead to life-changing results.
Other climbers experimented, and soon the dyno wasn?t the exception anymore.
Finding Your Dyno
Persistent vision is difficult. Persistence in itself is tough. Much like a rock climber, you need stamina. Stamina to see something through ? to reach the endgame.
Like rocks that jut out, obstacles will stand in your way. And the more persistent your vision, the more frequent and tougher the obstacles will be.
That?s why it?s called persistence. That?s why you need to reach out and find your dyno and push it to its limits. That?s why you need to take your leap of faith and trust in the safety of your landing.
Change doesn?t happen overnight, but it does happen.
The Story of Persistent Vision
At the tail end of 2008, I had a vision. The idea was simple enough ? pick 12 charities and raise $12,000 per charity, with a different charity being featured every month of the year.
This idea became the 12for12k project.
It was maybe a little ambitious and perhaps a little crazy. But it was something I knew could work and believed in one hundred percent.
And when I believe in something, I?m persistent to the end.
I didn?t know if my vision would work. I didn?t know if people would share it, or whether I?d be the lonely guy with a plan and a road map that no one wanted to read.
Thankfully, though, people did. Then more people.
And when obstacles got in the way, the persistence that had started in me had also started in others, and they barged their way through the obstacles.
They jumped their dynos.
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Just over twelve months later, a group of persistent people with a shared vision had raised over $91,000 for charity (which broke $100,000 in January 2010), and set out their stalls for future dynos to come.
Endgame and Beginnings
This isn?t a story about ego. This is a story about how you have the same persistence in you, too. How you have the same visions for what matters to you.
How you can find your dyno and leapfrog it every single time.
Afraid to start blogging? Write the first word then leave it. Then go back and write another. Then leave it. Go back. Leave. Persist. Jump your dyno ? the blog will happen.
Afraid to start your own business? Buy the first product. Store it. Buy another. Store it. Scour the classifieds. Buy another product. Find the audience, write a short advert (could be that first blog post).
Persist. Build slowly. Let your stamina feed your persistence and jump your dyno.
The point is, change is waiting for you. Persistence doesn?t mean overnight. Change doesn?t happen overnight.
But it does happen.
Ready to jump your dyno?
This is a sample chapter from my “Little Book of Inspiration”, available from Morning Rain Publishing. You can learn more about it here.