I used to define happiness as the enjoyment of the pursuit of your potential.

But, my ideas changed as I received more clarity on how exactly to reach your potential, happiness, purpose or fulfillment. I have found that it’s not only the enjoyment of the pursuit of your potential — but the consistent, and persistent, enjoyment of that pursuit of your potential that helps you to crush your goals.

Personally, I am focused on pursuing my potential as a philanthropist:

Disconnected dreams

You need to do things every day.

I see a disconnect between people and their attempts to manifest their dreams. It’s that they forget the importance of being consistent and persistent in the way that they pursue them.

It’s estimated you have 10,000 new thoughts a day and 40,000 of the same thoughts every day. In order to make sure these thoughts move from your conscious to your subconscious and unconscious, you need to control those 10,000 new thoughts.

Change the way you look at things so the things you look at change.

You can control these repetitive thoughts through what I call the Cancel/Clear/Connect strategy. When negative thoughts pop up, say to yourself “Cancel.” When the same thoughts keep popping up, work on clearing your mind. If the negativity persists, connect to what inspires you.

Get out of your own way.

We tend to carry on without persistence. Our goals become more difficult to achieve, and we create shortages, voids and obstacles that are tough (if not impossible) to fill ourselves. We can be born with the greatest talents and gifts, but if you’re not persistent and consistent in your use of those skills, then you cannot achieve your fullest potential.

In my coaching business, I see this issue quite often. It makes things difficult because hardly anybody is consistent and persistent in their pursuit. We always tend to waiver, get distracted by extraneous things or get in our own way.

That is why I created the Gratitude Challenge, to show people that the biggest impact you can make is simply by doing something every day. So, I picked the simplest change that provides great results, saying “thank you” and doing it every day. The majority of the people that take the gratitude challenge are unable to stick to it, though.

Be consistent in using Cancel/Clear/Connect and you will change the way you think. Regularly using this strategy is essential in order to change the way you think and enjoy the pursuit of your potential.

Perform a self-evaluation.

Think about how much time per day you are committed to the pursuit of your potential. Are you consistent? Are you persistent? Do you need to improve in these areas?

Consistency is a massively important because it allows you to focus on what you want. Focusing on a goal and working toward it every day allows you to utilize the power of intention. That focus yields exponential growth and results.

You need to do something every day in order to be great at it. Meditate, use gratitude, practice a skill, work on a relationship, tell somebody that you love and appreciate them. Each of those activities can take as little as 30 seconds a day, if you are efficient, and make a resounding impact in your life.

(Consistent) drive for dough

My favorite example to use when it comes to consistency is golf. If you play golf 30 minutes every single day, you’ll be far better than someone who plays one of two rounds on the weekends. In fact, people who play six hours on the weekend are often worse after one year compared to those who consistently practice.

There are many examples of this in sports, people who push on despite being told “no” again and again. They stick to their guns, whether it be during one game, one season or an entire career, and it pays off in the end.

Persistence in business

These same principles hold true for all of the successful entrepreneurs we’ve come to know. Individuals like Walt Disney and Henry Ford (and myself) all had lived in the consistent, persistent enjoyment of the pursuit of their potential, pushing past the many difficulties they faced.

You will always run into obstacles, voids and shortages along the way. Sticking to your goals every single day will allow you to increase your enjoyment of that pursuit. In order to reach your potential, it is essential to be consistent and persistent in the enjoyment of the pursuit of it.

Persistence pays it forward.

I want to encourage this mindset in people around the world, so I have started a “50 For 50” campaign with the Unstoppable Foundation to help raise money to bring Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Centers to Kenya, which will provide individuals the resources to thrive as entrepreneurs.