I have had the good fortune to become friendly with many highly successful individuals: world-class athletes and entertainers, national politicians, CEO’s of major corporations and very wealthy entrepreneurs.

The one predominant, common-thread characteristic they all share is incredible staying power. These are folks who will just never quit on a goal that they set for themselves. I mean NEVER.

Everybody of course says that persistence is critical to success. What I have been thinking about lately is why persistence and tenacity actually produce success.

Here are my reasons:

1) The longer you work at something, the better you get at it. So, over time, staying the course means a higher level of performance.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier – not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do it has increased.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

2) The longer you work at something, the more perspectives you bring to the challenge. Did you ever do a crossword or jig saw puzzle and walk away from it – absolutely stuck? Then you come back the next day and see things you did not see before. That is because every minute of the day we are operating under certain stimuli. When the stimuli change, our perspective changes. So, the longer you work at something, the more disparate insights you can bring to it.

That inspiration comes, does not depend on me. The only thing I can do is make sure it catches me working.

Pablo Picasso

3) The longer you work at something, the more likely you will be “in the game” when your opportunities arise. Assuming that everybody gets a certain number of great opportunities during their lifetime, so long as you are persisting in the pursuit of your goal, you are in action when your time comes.

All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck – who keeps going – is the man who is there when the good luck comes – and is ready to receive it.

Robert Collier (author and publisher)

4) The longer you work at something, the greater the probability that you will wear down the opposition. Oftentimes whoever or whatever is standing in the way of your success will tire before you do. If you persist, you erode the will of the forces in your path.

To audition at places like Catch a Rising Star and The Improv, we would start lining up outside the clubs at two in the afternoon with hopes of getting onstage sometimes after eleven that night. You’d spend the whole day sitting on the curb, waiting and waiting. Inevitably, somebody in front of you would say, “This stinks!” and walk away. I always enjoyed that. All of a sudden I had moved up … my standing in show business had just improved!

Jay Leno

Jim Randel is the founder of The Skinny On book series. His new book, The Skinny on Success: Why Not You,? will be released later this month.