Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines persistence as the act of continuing to try to do something despite difficulties,especially when other people are against you and think that you are being annoying or unreasonable.
This subject above entail a kind of 'die-hard' attitudinal approach to things,professions,beliefs so as to get bountiful and satisfying benefit from it or them;as the case may be.
Fruitful persistence however means continuance in hitting at a target(labour) and at the end,being expectedly rewarded(profit) either satisfactorily or even excessively.
From those two paragraphs,you would see the difference in mere persistence and fruitful persistence. Acquiring profit after persistent labour is the border that separates those two concepts.
How then do we identify a fruitful persistence?
As earlier stated,you would watch out for the adjective "fruitful" there. Before putting consistent hardwork into something,you should try to analyze if your persistence will earn you profits or not.
Take for instance, a school boy who keeps writing wrong answers,over and over again,and still expect to pass his exams.That's an example of a fruitless persistence.The boy keeps writing to fail,yet expect expects success? It's such a dream that won't come true,even though he his PERSISTENT.
Have you seen a Lion hunt for food among many preys?
The king of the jungle targets a particular animal out of many present. This most times makes it catch up on its prey after chasing for long,while the others escape. That is a kind of fruitful persistence! Its persistence yielded its desired result.
Lets look at another relevant example here. It's about George Weah;the ex-footballer-turned recently elected Liberian president.
George firstly,incribed his name in the history of football when he got the award of the Ballon d'Or in the year 1995. His FRUITFUL PERSISTENCE earned him that global award. He believed he could get the award while he wore the garment of hardwork and consistency. It then turned a reality!
Also in 2005, he contested for the presidency in his then war-torn nation but lost,due to his academical background and lack of experience.
Mr Weah courageously re-strategised,went to get needed academic degrees,and re-contested in 2017.
At last,he was declared the winner of the 2017 Liberian General election.
His FRUITFUL PERSISTENCE paved way for him. He gave in FRUITLESS persistence at first,for he lacked the qualification,but kept trying,which is like building a castle in the air.
With the two cited examples above,it's quite apparent how a FRUITFUL PERSISTENCE is to be coveted rather than a mere one. You would make sure you are on the right line of hardwork,courage and consistency,so they won't be a waste of enrergy,time and resources.
FRUITFUL PERSISTENCE ; a virtue you would want to possess !