It’s been about four weeks since I left the steadiness of a corporate gig for the dazzling delighted chaos of start up land and wow, what a ride.It’s been an emotional, sensory overload of highs and lows already and I can only imagine what’s coming.
Many of the cliches you hear like “you’ll learn more operating in a start up than you ever could imagine” are true. The “get in, get your hands dirty” daily demands of building something from nothing force you to be exposed to business in it’s rawest form. You quickly learn what you’re made of and marvel at those who have gone before you and find yourself wondering what they traits they leaned on that got them through it, like persistence, tenacity and others.
A couple weeks ago, Seth Godin posted about the difference between persistence and tenacity and arguable, near everything that comes from the mind of Seth is pure gold. He reasons that persistence is repeating the same thing until it works while tenacity is using new data to find a new way to achieve goal. It clearly slanted towards tenacity as the favorable trait.
But today, I was reminded of a quote from Calvin Coolidge that stirs a defense of persistence.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Brushing the sweat of a start up off my brow, I’m torn. It feels like both tenacity and persistence have their place.I posit that it’s a blend of those traits that pick people up and drive them forward to success. To be tenaciously persistent, picking yourself up after defeat, informed with new data, to try a new path still in pursuit of your goals. What do you think? Do you think you need both? Take the poll or sound off in the comments section and let me know what you think.
I propose, that you need them both to fuel success, solve problems and come out on top. I propose that the answer, no matter what your goal: creating the next twitter, coming up with a great marketing campaign or ridding the world of poverty, lies in how tenaciously persistent one is.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below. Is one better than the other?
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