Tenacity comes from from the Latin word “tenax”, which means “holding fast”, or “to hold”. It describes holding on to something with great passion, and purpose. When someone is tenacious about something, it means they are holding on to it very powerfully. When someone is describes as tenacious, or as having great tenacity, they are generally a person who has goals and achieves them. They have an understanding that when they want something, they will probably hit obstacles, but their desire to get it done is so great, that they either find a way around the obstacle or they find a way through it.

Tenacity: persistent determination

Tenacity basically asks us: “How badly do you want what’s on the other side of that obstacle”? “Are you willing to do what ever it takes to get what’s on the other side”? People who succeed in life, and get what they want are tenacious. Period. When you become tenacious, and your desire for things start to out way the potential and clear walls in front of them, you become powerful – because you can accomplish anything you want. The more tenacious you are, the more you’ll accomplish. The trick is to build such a desire for things, that the obstacles don’t matter as much, and this can take time.

To build up tenacity, start with small things. Start by desiring to go to bed early, or to get up early, or to buy a CD, or make an extra $10 a week. Something small, that might have relatively small obstacles. Now, the way to do it, is to watch and listen to yourself when you hit an obstacle. You will hit obstacles, and they key is to realize how you respond to them, and learn from this. If you try 1 night to go to bed earlier, and don’t succeed, do you give up and through in the towel? Do you give it 2 nights, 3, 4? In order to grow tenacity, don’t give up, don’t give up until you have succeeded. Be creative, and find ways to accomplish your goal, but don’t give up….ever!

Tenacity also goes well with a little dose of intelligence: Sometimes we find an obstacle that gives us a really hard time, that’s OK. One possible way of getting around an obstacle is to let it go for a time and come back to it later. Often while something is on the back burner, we can think of a great solution to it, and something comes to mind that doesn’t while it’s in our immediate focus. So intelligent tenacity is an even greater asset.

Few things are so tightly tied to our success. Tenacity is definitely one of the highest factors. When I hear the word and can associate it with a person, my immediate thoughts are: work with them, hire them, pay them, get them on my team, they will succeed and help me succeed. There are few greater adjectives I like to hear about people.