Perseverance

Perseverance (noun)

: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : STEADFASTNESS

“I will persist until I succeed. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning, and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is no avail, I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed.” -Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”  – Winston S. Churchill

“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” 
– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” – Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

What’s common among all stories of people who show tremendous courage and perseverance–from ancient tales of the Spartans to Biblical narratives like the Canaanite woman to Louis Zamperini in “Unbroken” to today’s single parent working multiple jobs to provide a better life for their child–is they all have no idea if what they’re doing will actually work. In fact, the initial feedback is that it’s not working and they should just give up.

So what is it that allows these folks to persist against all odds and evidence to the contrary?

I believe it’s the following:

A burning desire.

An unwavering and at times, irrational belief in themselves and their mission.

A refusal to give up.

And as my favorite actor Jack Lemmon said about his own career…”blind faith.”

To persist is to win.

Keep making your art.

P.S. – Pictured above is the Mars rover. It’s been looking for signs of life on Mars since landing there on 2021. 960 days and counting. Nothing yet. But not giving up. Its name?…Perseverance.