“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

– Sir Winston Churchill

The formula for achieving greatness is 10% talent and 90% persistence – not the other way around. Of course we can all think of examples of top performers who have natural gifts and achieve success but without persistence do they ever really achieve personal greatness? I would argue they do NOT because true greatness is something that is measured as an absolute value rather than a relative one.

The following are some examples of individuals who achieved greatness as the result of their persistence, more so than their talent.

• Henry Ford went bankrupt twice in his first few years in the automobile industry.

• In 1902, a magazine called the Atlantic Monthly rejected the poetry submissions of a 28-year old aspiring poet stating, “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The name of that 28-year old aspiring poet was Robert Frost.

• Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

• 23 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’ first children’s book. The twenty-fourth publisher took a chance and sold over 6 million copies of his book.

• J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone manuscript was rejected by 15 publishers before it was eventually picked up and became a multi-billion dollar phenomenon.

• In 1905, the University of Bern rejected a Ph.D. candidate’s dissertation describing it as “irrelevant and fanciful.” The candidate’s name was Albert Einstein.

• A young quarterback named Johnny had a passion for football and played at a small school because he was considered too little to play at Notre Dame. After graduation, he played with the Steelers for a short stint and was cut. Forced to work construction to pay the bills, he waited for another chance to play football. The Baltimore Colts took a chance on him and Johnny Unitas not only led them to a championship but also was eventually inducted into the football hall of fame.

• A young college economics student submitted a paper on a new way to send and receive packages. His professor gave him a “C” on the paper stating, “The concept is interesting but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” That student’s name was Fred Smith and he founded a company called Federal Express.

I would expect that each of us has heard of these people and may be surprised and hopefully now inspired to learn of the failures they overcame in their path to achieving greatness.  If anything, maybe this week’s article will justify a moment of reflection as you ask yourself, “How persistent am I?”

Dr Doug