If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past seven years that I’ve been in the personal development industry, it’s that there is one characteristic that, above all, creates success among the most extraordinary people. That one characteristic is persistence.

If we look throughout the world in every industry and culture, there’s one consistent trend among every single successful individual, and that trend is the ability to persevere beyond a shadow of a doubt. It’s the ability to stand up beyond everyone else and take a step forward when everyone else sits down.

Before we get started, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge you, because it’s not just anyone who would read an article called “The Power of Persistence.” It isn’t every day that people decide to do what they need to in order to be successful. Only the most extraordinary individuals, the top minute fragment of a percent, who actually step up and take action towards creating success in their lives. Simply by picking up this book, you’ve chosen to step up and I acknowledge you for taking on that feat.

If we look throughout history at some of the greatest leaders — Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Colonel Sanders, Mark Victor Hansen, Steve Jobs — we see that the most extraordinarily successful people are those who have persisted beyond the norm. Everywhere we look we see signs of persistence in those that are creating the most challenging and rewarding results. It is not always natural; it’s a learned trait. What this means, though, is that success is simply a choice.

There was once a politician who failed at business at the age of 21. He was defeated in a legislative race at age 22, he failed again at business at age 24, overcame the death of his lover at age 26, had a nervous breakdown at age 27, lost a congressional race at 34 and 36, lost a senatorial race at 45, failed to become vice president at 47, lost a senatorial race at 49 and then was finally elected to President of the United States of America at age 52.

Now imagine if he had considered any of these past experiences as failures and had allowed that to stop him from moving forward. He would never have become one of the most extraordinary presidents of the United States, Mr. Abraham Lincoln.

There’s a famous story about Thomas Edison: he tried 9,999 times to perfect the light bulb and he couldn’t do it. Someone said, “Are you going to have 10,000 failures?” And he responded, “I didn’t fail, I just discovered another way not to invent the electric light bulb.” He got to choose whether or not he perceived his past experiences as failures.

Mark Victor Hansen, a close friend of mine and an extraordinary mentor and businessman, is the co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Series that has now sold over 144 million copies in over 20 languages worldwide. Yet did you know that he and Jack Canfield, his co-author, were turned down by over 110 publishers in their pursuit to be published? Iit wasn’t until a publisher’s wife got a hold of the manuscript and all night long she was waking her husband, saying, “Look at this, look at this!” Finally, the publisher agreed to publish it.

Now here’s a story about another individual: Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. He was a military retiree and had nothing to his name except his mother’s chicken recipe. So what did he do? He took his old sports wagon out and began driving to restaurant after restaurant after restaurant. His intention was to sell the chicken recipe, but he was turned down time and time again. He was actually turned down 1,007 times before he received his first yes, and that one yes is what made possible Kentucky Fried Chicken possible.

The last individual I want to tell you about is Steve Jobs, the president and founder of Apple Computer. Members of his board of directors kicked him out of his own company. He could have allowed this to stop him, but instead he stood up. It was only because he persisted that he was voted back in as Chairman of Apple. He created the iPod, the iPhone and a new line of Mac Computers. Had he not, we probably would never have experienced an iPod or an iPhone.

As you can see, the stories go on and on of the most extraordinary individuals creating powerful results as a direct result of their persistence. Time and time again, individuals are stopped along their journey, but that doesn’t mean that they are failures or that their project will never work. It simply means that they’re one step closer to achieving the result that they desire.

Justin Sachs is the best-selling author of The Power of Persistence and a leading success coach for entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and business owners.