Persevere: The Second Most Important Lesson

No matter who you are or what you do, there are going to be problems.

Just like a hero keeps fighting one second longer than a coward, a successful person is one who keeps working just a little longer than the one who fails.

When I started my first company, I worried about making enough money to take care of my children. Now, the children are grown and doing well, the company is bigger and I have employees who count on me. I worry about making enough money  to cover the payroll so people who work for 7 Generation Games can have secure jobs.

When I was younger, it was hard to stay up late, skip parties and make a lot of other sacrifices so I could both make the U.S. Judo Team and do well enough in school to get into college, graduate from college and get graduate degrees.

Sometimes, when I get introduced at an event and they list out everything I've accomplished it sounds pretty impressive.

• 1st American to win the world judo championships
• Raised four children
• Won U.S. Open, Panamerican Games, Austrian Open
• Graduated from college at age 19
• Ran varsity track in college
• Earned MBA
• Earned PhD
• Co-authored a book
• Co-founded company  that went from nothing to a million in business in less than two years
• Published several articles in scientific journals
• Started a video gaming company
• Wrote grants funded for tens of millions of dollars

When you're in the middle of it, though, it's not impressive. Often, it's just tiring. You can't remember the quadratic formula. The baby throws up on your dress right before the interview. You studied and studied and you still did poorly on the test. You trained really hard and still lost to someone who was just a tiny bit better than you.

I know that yesterday I said that "Never stop learning" was the key to financial success. The other key to success in anything, though, is perseverance. Don't give up.

That doesn't mean you never change. If you don't succeed in school, maybe you need tutoring, to take different classes or quit smoking pot before you do your homework (don't pretend like no one in the world does that). If you aren't winning in your sport, maybe you need to find a different coach or get up in the morning and run to be in better condition.

At the end of the day - there's another day. That's how time works. You get up and try again tomorrow and tomorrow. Those tomorrows add up to a degree, a book contract, a company.

Persevere.

*As evidence of perseverance, I wrote this post with three grandchildren and a dog making noise around me.

= ==  Speaking of persevering ===

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