Keep Going: The Power of Persistence

Sometimes success is merely hanging on when others would let go. Not doing anything spectacular or out of the ordinary, not leaping a mile or jumping over a mountain, but simply carrying on. Thomas Edison has a famous quote that’s really stuck with me over the years. He says, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Right? How close they were to the finish line when they turned their back and said it wasn’t worth it.

It’s really an interesting thing to grasp, right? Success is seeing what others can’t. It’s believing when others don’t. It’s taking the abstract—those visions, those pictures in your head, to make-believe and finding the courage to make them real, bring them to life. It’s this constantly evolving process, and it grows a little bit every single day. Sometimes we feel that progress, we feel the momentum, we do something big, and it’s exciting. And sometimes the progress feels small, and there are times when we get knocked down and we don’t see it at all. We feel like because we weren’t validated that we lost, that we failed, that it wasn’t enough.

The Journey of Progress

We forget that’s part of the process—that progress is a journey, and it goes when you go, and it stops when you stop. Just like that famous Dalai Lama quote, “The only way to fail is to quit. Period.” No one ever stops because they can’t; they stop because they decide to. They stop because they see that huge mountain and they think that’s impossible. They forget it’s only made of little rocks. They stop because they get so disheartened by the distance of the finish line that they forget it only takes a collection of little steps to get there. You don’t have to leap the entire distance.

Personal Experience

I’ve been there. This is me speaking from experience. It took me years to figure it out, and even now, life is rapidly evolving. I’ve poured my heart into things that, let’s be honest, no one cared about. I’ve invested in opportunities that fell apart right in front of me, and each time it felt like the end of the world. I’ve been lost, I’ve been unsure, gotten up after things didn’t go as planned, and it felt like a loser. I had to look myself in the mirror and pick myself back up off the floor.

But there’s one thing that I kept doing that I never thought twice about, and that’s continuing on. Whether life lifted me up or it beat me down, my plan for tomorrow was always the same: get up and try again, keep going. And as I sat down this morning with my pen and a piece of paper, I thought, what’s the one thing I would want to be told if I started out again? What’s the one thing that people need to hear most? And it’s to simply keep going. Keep taking steps because one day the world will start to make sense, and you’ll look around and you will be thankful for one thing: that when most would have stopped, you didn’t. When the world said no, you said yes.

Finding the Light in Darkness

There is nothing so powerful as a soul that refuses to back down. See, persistence is not an important thing or an essential thing—it’s everything. So live as to see not what can be lost but what will be gained. Find that light in darkness, even if it’s a flicker, even if it’s a spark. See, every loss makes you a little tougher, and every instant of sadness uncovers something beautiful. Every moment of fear teaches you to be a little braver. Every broken heart opens the door to a new connection. Instead of doubting yourself, feeling inadequate in life’s darkest moments, know that you need what you are going through—you are uncovering the little victories hidden in plain view.

Strength in the Face of Adversity

So when the world feels like too much and your patience is thin, be stronger than that voice in your head begging you to think small. Stand on every experience, the good and the bad, and let it elevate you to a beautiful tomorrow. If there’s time, then there’s time to turn things around. If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope today. The only “have to be’s” in life are the ones we prop up and adhere to. And how interesting that oftentimes we don’t even realize we’re the ones holding them up.

There’s a simple question that I like to ask as the sun comes up and the coffee brews: am I living today like it’s an obligation or something more? Is it an automatic continuation of the past or a methodical move towards a future that lights me up? And these aren’t small distinctions, right? I’ve lived both ways. I’ve felt what it’s like to feel both. I remember going to work and joking around that a flat tire would be a real treat. That’s not accountability. That’s not control. That’s essentially living life as a jellyfish, floating along with the tide. And while the lack of required output, innovation, and planning may have felt like a win in the moment or a burden lifted off my shoulders at the time, it deprived me of that which resides in the soul of every human being alive—purpose, personal agency.

Taking Control of Your Journey

See, you can only go so far so long being the spectator of your own journey. You can only go so long looking out the window before you wonder just what it’d be like to be behind the wheel. When we put our actions up against the question “why,” it astounds me how many things are done because it’s what we’ve always done. We act like we’re expected to act, think like we’re expected to think, see who we’re expected to see. But expected by whom? Some of my greatest breakthroughs in life emerged after being asked “why” by people I look up to or respect. Why have you accepted that that’s your income? Okay, great, but why? That’s how you spend your day? I see, how come?

And when one is tasked with looking at their own life through a magnifying glass, some hidden truths always emerge. It shines a spotlight in the corner of the room, illuminating those shadows where one can, if they look hard enough, make out the wolf in sheep’s clothing that is the phrase, “because that’s how I’ve always done it.” We get in life what we accept. We are what we allow ourselves to be. And if we don’t ask ourselves which mountain is worth climbing, which ocean is worth crossing, we simply float with the tide. We’re at the mercy of the winds. We forfeit the mastery over our own lives that awaits if we’re willing to take that wheel and navigate.

Embracing Change and Growth

So here are a few things to take with you. First is you are bound by nothing. The parameters you exist between are of your making. You can get in that car and drive. You can walk away and begin something new. You can entertain that vision that’s been conveniently tucked away in the back of your mind. Understand that to not go is fine, but it’s a decision—and perhaps a decision you’ll wish you made differently. And second, difficult today liberates you tomorrow. It’s easier to observe. It’s easier to say how you wish things were. After all, stepping out into the fast-paced, chaotic world is tough. It’s scary. It’s unpredictable. But it’s where you find yourself and the path that’s calling your name. It’s beyond the pins and needles emerging as one jumps into the cold water that they’re able to find that evolution.

If there’s time, then there’s time to turn things around. If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope today. What’s the difference between simple and easy? Well, simple is straightforward, uncomplicated. Easy, on the other hand, means achieved without great effort. The difference between those two words is subtle but essential to understand. One deals with the complexity of an outcome, the other your will and determination to achieve that outcome. Becoming who you most want to be is simple, but becoming who you most want to be is not easy. Just like walking is simple, yet hiking up a mountain is not easy. The procedure didn’t change; the context did.

Conclusion: The Path to Success

So let’s talk about context. Let’s talk about this cyclical nature of growth. Because it’s not that most people can’t—it’s that most people won’t. It’s not that most people don’t get how—it’s that they don’t have a strong enough why. The path is laid out before you. You just have to be willing to walk down it. Will you? Step one: realize there’s more out there. It’s not that what you’re doing now isn’t amazing. It’s just that yesterday’s act of courage is now today’s status quo. What was the spectacular is now the mundane. What was once the ceiling you had to jump to touch is now the floor you walk on. So at the very least, it prompts you to ask, “Well, what’s next?” Simple, not easy.

Step two: the acquisition of courage. Yesterday’s courage was a fight. It took a lot out of you, and it’s ultimately what got you here. But it dropped you at the curb, it waved goodbye, and went on its merry way. And here you are. You can stay here—a lot of people do. You can reminisce of the glory days, the old path, yesterday’s triumphs. Or you can do that perpetually uncomfortable exercise of vulnerability, stepping into tomorrow’s unknown, reminding yourself that life’s greatest rewards have a hefty price tag, and that price is discomfort. “But I’ve already played this game,” one might think. No, what you did was learn the rules. Now it’s time to apply them to a new setting. And around goes the merry-go-round. It might seem like a replication from the horizontal, but here’s the secret: you can’t see the vertical. You have yet to look down and see your ascent. See what you’re becoming just by staying on, holding tight, just by believing in yourself enough to begin again. You are fanning those tiny flames of courage in your soul that wait to be spread like a wildfire. Simple, but not easy.

Step three: mistakes. Now, of course, it’s not the mistakes themselves you fear. It’s what you think those mistakes will mean—ridicule, embarrassment, lack of direction or identity, losing what you have. But here’s the catch: when you realize the upside is greater than the downside, you liberate yourself. When you realize there’s more to gain than to lose, your potential for greatness is born. How does one act on this? By making mistakes. By injecting yourself into the turbulence of progress. Our biology has not yet learned that the uncomfortable thing is the right thing. And that’s why you get resistance. That’s why it hurts. And it’s why few people will accomplish what you will.

When it comes to your climb, every day is opposite day. When they run out, you’re running in. When they play safe, you play for the victory. To become who you might be, you must learn how to get there. Mistakes are your curriculum. Simple, but not easy.

Step four: trust yourself. Okay, sure, no problem. Easy. Well, yeah, it’s easy when you’re getting what you want. But evolution takes time, and there’s nothing quite like giving and giving and giving and not getting. There’s nothing quite like stepping up to the plate again and again and again and bringing no runners home. So how does one find the strength to continue walking up to the batter’s box? Well, growth is exponential, and those swings and misses matter. The infield singles matter. Everything matters because it’s all chiseling your future self out of stone. Nothing is dependent on the next at bat as much as all at bats in the aggregate. That’s why success is so often considered to be sheer will dependent, not on the home run, but on the discipline, the self-belief to keep walking up to the plate. Repetition and adjustment. Repetition and adjustment. Repeat and refine. Repeat, refine. Those are the materials from which all things are made. Simple, but not easy.

And then we have the finale, the ending. Step five: celebrate and adjust. At some point, you’ll be able to look over your shoulder and notice something that perhaps you hadn’t before—space. Space between where you are and where you started. It’s not sudden but gradual, and undoubtedly with enough persistence, it will emerge. These moments, they are precious. They are times to acknowledge what you’ve accomplished, the sacrifices you have made. They are life’s way of reminding you what you are building and who you are becoming. It’s a time of celebration. Every little win means something. Every small victory matters. So relish in it, and then transform it. Normalize it. Recognize that that mountaintop is your foundation now. Your starting point has changed, and so have you. Which means so have your expectations. With an increase in ability comes an upgrade to what’s possible, what’s expected. And look at that, we have arrived at a new step one: realize there is more.

This is the process for capturing that which life has to offer. If you can fall in love with that, appreciate it, respect it, while simultaneously understanding it’s not scary. It’s dependent entirely on your ability to push forward. If you can understand that, there is nothing you can’t do, nowhere you can’t go. Simple? Yes. Easy? No. But you’re not in this for easy. You’re in it for the journey, the growth, the adventure. You’re in it because it’s not easy. You’ll see in time, as will the world, that this decision to endure was simply the best one you ever made.