The right kind of........................

.................................stubborn. 

On perseverance.....................

 It was clear to me that the success of my expedition had not depended on physical strength or dramatic acts of bravery but on the fact that at least some progress—however small—had been made every single day. It had not been about glorious heroism but the humblest of qualities, a quality that perhaps we all too often fail to appreciate for its worth - that of perseverance.  Critical to skiing across Antarctica had been the distinctly unimpressive and yet, for me, incredibly demanding challenge of finding the will to get out of the tent each and every morning.  If I had failed in that most fundamental of tasks, then my expedition would have been over. . . .

     Keep getting out of the tent.

-Felicity Aston, Alone In Antarctica

Easier too...................

 ................Persistent, gentle pressure almost always outperforms sudden, violent blows.

-Seth Godin

when slow is fast.....................

There is nothing heroic about quick fixes, hacks, or silver bullets, especially given they rarely, if ever, work.  Most breakthroughs rest upon a long-standing foundation of steady and consistent effort.  For so many of the meaningful endeavors in our lives, the best way to move fast is to go about it slowly, to proceed with a gentle yet firm persistence.

-Brad Stulberg, The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds—Not Crushes—Your Soul 

Day trading...........................

 Going to the protest of the day, performing acts of slacktivism, hopping from urgency to emergency–this is how people who day trade in our culture are whipsawed. But the people who are consistently and actively changing the culture are not easily distracted. One more small action, one more conversation, one more standard established.

-Seth Godin, from here

On persistence..............

 The important thing is how we work with something that isn't working.  Being pig-headed and repeatedly doing the same thing over and over again is not the answer.  Persistence should be coupled with the ability to adjust how you approach your challenge.  Trying multiple angles is the key to making your persistence work for you.

-Ben Aldridge, How to Be Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

On finishing..........................

     If I was what you might call a "fast finisher," it was because I was always mentally receptive to a fast finish;  I was receptive to the idea that there was always time to make up some ground right to the very last hole.  I played to win even when common sense dictated that I no longer had a realistic chance.  Even when I was playing my worst or when all the breaks seemed to be going against me, I approached each shot as an opportunity to get going again.  That was my golfing personality.

-Arnold Palmer,  A Life Well Played:  My Stories

On objectivity (which is difficult, by the way).....

     The life of Darwin demonstrates how a turtle may outrun a hare, aided by extreme objectivity, which helps the objective person end up like the only player without a blindfold in a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
     If you minimize objectivity, you ignore not only the lesson from Darwin but also from Einstein.  Einstein said that his successful theories came from "Curiosity, concentration, perseverance, and self-criticism."  And by self-criticism, he meant the testing and destruction of his own well-loved ideas.

-Charlie Munger, as extracted from Poor Charlie's Almanack:  The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

Sometimes we should...................

...............just stop and ponder sentences like this:

"The refusal of the British and Russian peoples to accept what appeared to be inevitable defeat was the great factor in the salvage of our civilization."
-General George C. Marshall, from his Biennial Report of the Chief of Staff, US Army (1 September 1945)

Faith in faith....................

      And those who urge entrepreneurs to never give up? Charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop. 
      Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome. Some people might not call it luck. They might call it Tao, or Logos, or Jñāna, or Dharma. Or Spirit. Or God.
      Put it this way.  The harder you work, the better your Tao.  And since no one has ever adequately defined Tao, I now try to go regularly to mass.  I would tell them:  Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith.  Not faith as others define it.  Faith as you define it.  Faith as faith defines itself in your heart.

-Phil Knight,  Shoe Dog:  A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE

Gnawing....................................

............................................"self-knowledge can be messy."

Compelled.................................

“The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.” 

-Napoleon Hill

As we make it....................

We must not hope to be mowers,
    And to gather the ripe gold ears,
Unless we have first been sowers
    And watered the furrows with tears.

It is not just as we take it
    This mystical world of ours
Life's field will yield as we make it
    A harvest of thorns or flowers.

-Goethe,   Perseverance 

Persevere.........................

Over the endless dark centuries of its evolution, the human nervous system has become so complex that it is now able to affect its own states, making it to a certain extent functionally independent of its genetic blueprint and of the objective environment.  A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening "outside," just by changing the contents of consciousness.  We all know individuals who can transform hopeless situations into challenges to be overcome, just through the force of their personalities.  This ability to persevere despite obstacles and setback is the quality people most admire in others, and justly so;  it is probably the most important trait not only for succeeding in life, but for enjoying it as well.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,  Flow:  The Psychology Of Optimal Experience

Good questions, all........................

Why is it that entrenched players, with all their resources, can’t seem to innovate?   Why do outsiders seem to respond better to disruption and changes?  How does one learn to spot transformative opportunities?
-as asked by Ryan Holiday in this post on " the story of a central truth of history: that strength often becomes a weakness and weakness can be transformed into strength. "

One step beyond................................

“Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.” 
-Napoleon Hill

Hmmm.....................................

     It may well be true that successful entrepreneurs possess perseverance and leadership skills, of course.  What is less obvious - and much less boring - is what the speaker neglected to mention:  that those traits are likely to be the characteristics of extremely unsuccessful people, too.  "Think about it," Denrell observed afterwards, "Incurring large losses requires both persistence ... and the ability to persuade others to pour their money down the drain." ... It seems likely that the very successful and the very unsuccessful might actually have rather similar personalities.  The only indisputable difference between the two is the the very unsuccessful are much, much less frequently interviewed by management scholars who are studying the causes of success.
-Oliver Burkeman,  The Antidote:  Happiness For People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking

Slow down to go fast..................................

"In other words:  you want big results?  Good -- then do the little things.  Just do them consistently and persistently."
-Jeff Olson,  The Slight Edge:  Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success & Happiness

In defense.............................................

..............................................................of a worthy idea.

On Wills and Won'ts........................................

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."
-Henry Ward Beecher