One of the reasons its so critical to help our kids live a determined life is that almost nothing happens on the first try.
Fast forward twenty years and imagine your son or daughter grown up. Their character (including their determination) will directly impact what happens at work, at home, and in their families.
My friend Gary Reniecke shared some statistics from the world of sales that tell quite a story about determination. Studies have shown that:
48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect.
25% of sales people make a 2nd contact and stop.
12% of sales people make 3 contacts and stop.
Only 10% of sales people make more than 4 contacts.
Why does this matter? Well, consider this:
2% of sales are made on the 1st contact.
3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact.
5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact.
10% of sales are made on the 4th contact.
80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact.
Whether our kids ever choose sales as a career is beside the point. The point is determination and persistence pays off.
And that shouldn’t surprise us. Isn’t it true that even as adults, few of us learn the lessons we need to learn on the first go-round? Isn’t it true that spiritual maturity doesn’t happen without some level of determination? Whoever fully formed their character and relationship with God overnight?
Most great things take time. And without determination, we’ll never see them realized.
As a parent, you might need to become determined to teach values like determination. Rarely will a child pick up on what’s important on first try, and even if they embrace it early, it’s easy to get discouraged and follow a different course down the road. This isn’t just true in instilling determination in your child – it’s true of virtually everything that’s important.
All of this to simply say this: don’t get discouraged if you didn’t succeed this week, or this month. So next week, next month, and next year, chip away at determination and encourage your family to do the same. Down the road, the payoff stands to be significant.
What has helped you stay determined to value determination?
Ok this resonates with me immediately. This morning, my 4 year old daughter came up with all kinds of creative excuses as to why she couldn’t even attempt to do up her zipper. Of course, I could just continue to do it myself, but clearly this will not help her to develop the determination character trait. I don’t think of myself as someone who usually comes down too hard on my kids, but this really gets my blood boiling! I’m not asking for perfect zippering, just to try and keep trying until the skill is learned…same with doing up seatbelts and I suppose I could go on and on. Perhaps my lack of determination is rubbing off and I’m learning to be more determined myself first. Thanks for the post!
That’s just so honest…thanks Steven. And you know, character is shaped by a thousand little things. You shared some great examples! Thanks.