As you make your way around the Internet and through bookstores, you’ll inevitably find several “experts” discussing some of the keys to both personal and professional success. They’ll give you different kinds of advice and some of these tidbits may work for you.
Quite commonly, people will tell you that you need to stick to your guns and see things through to the end. They’ll tell you that having a great sense of determination is incredibly valuable and it is only through persistence that you’ll be able to reach your end goals. You could say this is the core message behind the story of the tortoise and the hare.
The shelled hero has the right attitude. He recognizes that he is not as fast as his swift-footed companion, but he sticks with his goal. Slow and steady win the race. He puts in the effort and ultimately reaps the reward of a job well done. If he gave up, then he already lost.
In like manner, I’ve said that stubbornness and success go hand-in-hand. In the face of great adversity, some of the world’s most successful people managed to fight their way through and persevere to the end. They were never deterred, even if everyone around them said it could not be done.
However, is this really the message that we want to pass around? Yes, there is certainly value in having a strong ethic and a certain “stick-to-it-ness” when it comes to achieving your goals, but there is also something to be said about adaptability and versatility. You have to know when and how to change with the times, so to speak.
In this way, you could say there is a fine line between being persistent and simply being stubborn. Ultimately, the ball is in your court and it’s up to you to decide what to do with it. Do you stick with what looks like a losing formula, working to convince others that it’s a winning formula? Or is that a thick-headed and failing approach?
But Michael, it’s a style, a blend of both persistence and the ability to known when to adapt that makes for the most success. If you only have one, you are bound to lose more often than you win. It’s “The Art of War”,
So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.