Persistence
We are conditioned from a very young age to avoid failure and risks because they are detrimental to our well-being.
Destroyers of the human spirit.
Catalysts for stagnation and depression.
But every success story
No matter how tame or wild
Is built on a foundation of
Risk and failure.
Stories of operating at the absolute edge of survival, funding gambled away in a span of weeks, failed product launches, tech debt delays…
A never-ending list.
Yet one thing above all else separates what is and what could have been:
Persistence.
No amount of risk tolerance or appetite for failure comes even close to what persistence can accomplish.
We make this mistake when we tell ourselves we have a high risk tolerance.
For how long?
We tell ourselves we can handle failure.
How many times?
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
All skill, knowledge, and talent are meaningless if one cannot apply them.
All applications are wasted if one cannot overcome challenges and failures.
All challenges and failures become insurmountable without persistence.
In all of recorded history, every achievement, accomplishment, invention, innovation, and discovery has been the result of relentless persistence.
Persistence built Rome.
Persistence cured diseases.
Persistence put a man on the moon.
Persistence ended tyranny and injustice.
Persistence is the key that unlocks doors.
Persistence is the foundation on which empires and legacies are built.
To claim that any achievement of note is possible without persistence is to diminish and belittle your own dreams and goals.
“The sky is not my limit… I am.” – T.F. Hodge
I remember the time I went rock climbing to overcome my fear of heights.
I figured it would be easier than jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
In front of me was a wall maybe 50 to 60 feet high, but to me it might as well have been a kilometer.
My instructor roped me up and asked me, “How far do you think you will get?”
I wanted to look and sound tough, so I said, “All the way to the top.”
I remember his response to this day: “You will, but not today.”
Every attempt, my legs would start trembling, my arms would weaken, and I’d fall.
And every single time I fell, he would say, “You made it a little higher today. Try and fail higher next time.”
I tried and tried but struggled to find the strength to continue to the top.
One day I said to him, “I can’t do this anymore. My fear of heights won’t let me.”
His stoic, almost sensei-like response was: “You overcame your fear of heights a long time ago.”
Perplexed, I said, “That doesn’t make any sense.”
His response was showing me the highest point I had reached.
I was nine feet short of the top.
It took me one more attempt to reach it.
When I came down, my instructor showed me my climbing record.
It was attempt #217.
In each one of us resides the potential for limitless greatness.
The potential to
- Build
- Invent
- Innovate
But in each one of us also resides
- Fear
- Doubt
- Procrastination
There is no magic pill or mantra that will rid you of these symptoms.
To get to where you want to be
To become who you are meant to be
Demands relentless persistence.
And persistence is not an innate ability.
It is a state of mind.
A state of mind that can be cultivated.
One failure at a time.
One challenge at a time.
Life does not show us a record of how close we are to the finish line or the top.
But it does show us how far we have come.
Keep pushing no matter what.
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King, Jr
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