Conation - We're born with it

The dictionary definition of conation is the part of mental life having to do with striving, including desire and volition. I believe conation is the single most important indicator of success and the definition that I would like to use is found in the book Self Made in America, by John McCormack.

"Simply put, conation is the will to succeed, the quest for success, the attitude that to stop me you'll have to kill me, that elusive fire in the belly that manifests itself in drive, enthusiasm, excitement, and single-mindedness in pursuit of a goal - any goal. All consistently successful people have it. Many well-educated, intelligent, endearing, and presentable people don't have it."

Will Smith said in an interview "I consider myself to have average talent. What I have that others do not, is a sick obsessive animal drive." Will Smith has conation and that is the most important part of his success.

To prove that we are all born with conation all we have to do is watch a child. I remember when my youngest son was learning to walk just a few months ago. He would get up and fall down then get up and fall down again without loosing any desire to do it all over again. When my 3 year old son wants something he will ask for it until he gets it. If he wants a cookie he'll ask again and again and again and every time I say no he thinks of new tactics, like asking his mother, or explaining to me why he deserves it. But he never get discouraged, he doesn't quit until he gets it. I wonder when we loose this enthusiastic drive that when someone says no to us we don't even hear the no all we hear is that we need to find a different way to achieve this goal.

I think you might recognize some of these next examples of conation. The reason you know who these popular people are is only because they had conation, if they would have quit on there dreams I'm sure you wouldn't know who they are.

Henry Ford who failed and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.

Dr. Seuss's first children's book, And to Think that I saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected by 27 publishers, and the 28 publisher sold 6 million copies.

Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor for lack of imagination. He went bankrupt several times before he built Disney, and was turned down by 302 banks before he found one that believed in his idea.

In 1962, four young women tried starting their professional singing carrier. They started by performing in churches and small concerts. Then they recorded their first record and it was a flop. They continued recording eight more records and all nine were failures. They got a brake to be on the Dick Clark show and still didn't get a contract from it. Later that summer, they recorded "Where Did Our Love Go?" and it made it to the top of the charts. Diana Ross and the Supremes never gave up and had a great carrier because of their conation.

At first you might think this next guy is a bit of a looser, but he is a great example of conation. In 1816 his family was forced out of there home and he had to go to work to support them. His mother died when he was 10 years old, and two years later his sister died. At age 22 he failed in business. The next year he ran for legislature and lost, and later that same year lost his job and tried to get into law school and couldn't get in. A year later he borrowed some money from a friend to start a business and went bankrupt and spent the next 17 years paying off that debt. In 1834 he had his first victory by becoming a state legislature. He was engaged the following year but his fiancé died. He then had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months. He was defeated the next time he ran for state legislature and again when he ran for congress. He ran for congress again and won, but two years later when he ran for re-election he lost. He ran for United States Senate and lost. He then sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party's national convention and got less than 100 votes. He ran for U.S. Senate again, and once again he lost. If he would have quit Abraham Lincoln wouldn't have become the 16 President of the United States. It would have been easy for him to quit many times and most people would have understood. But he didn't and because he had conation he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of our country.

The other night I was watching America's Got Talent, and the reason I like this show is that you can see the dream, the struggle, and the victory. The night I was watching a guy named Donald Braswell came up to sing and he overcame a rude audience by singing beautifully. Overcoming a rude audience was probably easy in comparison to what he has already overcome. Donald was hit by a car while riding his bicycle in 1995 and he had so much damage on his throat that doctors told him he would probably never be able to speak or sing normally again. After working for years to regain the normal use of his voice, this now car salesman, had a great moment on national television. Donald Braswell is a regular guy with an inspirational story. It would have been really easy to quit, but I'm glad he didn't and I'm sure there are many others who think the same way.

Whatever your dreams may be don't give up on them. Most, if not all successful people have had many struggles they have overcome. The most important part of becoming successful is Conation. You might need to change your game plan to reach your goals, and I would bet that it will take a few different game plans. Most people don't want to achieve what Henry Ford, Walt Disney, or Abraham Lincoln has but whatever your dreams are, if you have the conation to stick to it, you'll be able to figure everything else out.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people 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. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race" - Calvin Coolidge

If you don't quit you'll make it