Persistence

Noun

the fact of continuing in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, once said, “nothing in this 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.”

Persistence is something we often talk and read about. But do we persist when it comes to making hard choices? Maybe not as often as we read and talk about.

Sticking it out is more important than we think. This is true of both personal and professional growth.

As per a study by CBS Insights, 95 percent of start-ups fail. The study listed 20 reasons for this failure. Founders can tackle many of these challenges if they invest time and energy into their startup and persist long enough. I’d say founders should give themselves at least 5-9 years after initial validation.

Sean Byrnes, founder of Flurry, mobile app analytics platform, that Yahoo bought for upwards of $300 million in 2014, shared in an interview with Andrew Warner of Mixergy that the company was on the verge of insolvency thrice in 9 years between its founding and the ultimate sale. If he had not persisted through those tough times, he would not have gotten the reward that he got for himself, his team and investors.

Your success may be bigger or smaller than Sean. But one thing is sure. If you commit to not quitting for 9 years and put in work during that time, you will win.

Now, 9 years or even 5 years is a long time. So whatever you choose to do, make sure that your heart is in it otherwise you will not be able to continue for that long.