If you are willing to consistently persevere, no person, outside force, current circumstance, or future obstacle can keep you from your destiny. If that means following up with some opportunity 4 times or 14, you need to do it. Now, you also need not be tedious, irritating, or bothersome, but you can be creative. Experts in skill development say it takes 10,000 hours of practice in a specific area to truly be good. Now that’s a lot of determination!
The truth is that persistence and drive override skill. When people say “no,” it’s a “no” for now. It doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t come back with a new approach. One CEO told me, “I always give ‘no’ as the first answer, and only if they don’t give up but have the confidence to persist and come back at me will I believe their conviction.”
Being a self-starter is the same as being the last to quit, give up, give in, and sign off. Nothing ever happens unless one initiates and keeps trying what was started—with creativity that comes from continuous learning to give you new ideas and approaches.
There will always be endless reasons to cave in “this one time” because you are tired, sick, mad, put down, challenged, threatened, beaten, or bullied—or whatever other reason you give yourself. Stick to it. Don’t give up, walk away, or abdicate your promise to yourself.
In our new book from McGraw-Hill, The Leadership Mind Switch, my co-author and I write about the requirement of tenacity as a leader. Pre-order on Amazon.com.
