Intelligence and interpersonal skills won't get you anywhere without persistence

I had an interesting morning recently watching my sons' swimathon at school. Both my boys can swim but neither are strong swimmers. As they set off, many children swept past them, but 5 minutes later, they were still resolutely going (mostly underwater by this stage!) determined to achieve every metre possible whilst some children were more sporadic. I have also been observing the relative success of many businesses recently and my conclusion was: It is not necessarily the most talented or the most skilled who do best but those who just keep going (business buddies can help). It's not trendy, but good old fashioned persistence and determination can get you a long way.

Quick Quote

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent ~ Calvin Coolidge

Just keep going...

I see Mums who say "no" to a child the first two, three four or maybe five times and then give in. You need to be more persistent and determined than your child! I see businesses who decide after the first few months that it is not working and give up completely. Very few businesses are a massive success within the first year - keep going... And I see people trying to lose weight who stick to a regime for a few weeks and then revert to old habits (but maybe that is a whole new newsletter!)

1. Clarify what you are trying to achieve
2. Decide how long you are going to be persistent for. It is until you succeed? What does success look like?
3. Let people know what you are aiming for to hold you accountable
4. Learn from your failures and know that failing is part of the road to success
5. Listen to people who encourage you, ignore people who aren't helpful and keep going...

There are hundreds of stories of people who failed many times before succeeding, but this is perhaps a less well known one:
A 15 year old boy was didn't make his high school varsity basketball team during his sophomore year as he was deemed too short. Despondent, he went home, locked himself in his room and cried. You may have heard of him: super star basketball player Michael Jordan, who just kept working at his basketball skills, and who said, “ I’ve failed over and over in my life. That’s why I succeed.”