The Importance of Persistence

“The root of the entrepreneur is sheer persistence in your passion” — Michael Flynn

Today, I was at a presentation by the motivational speaker, entrepreneur and generally incredible personality of Michael Flynn. I had already spoken to him at length and felt inspired and motivated to approach life with a fresh energy and with arms even more widely open than before. However, that didn’t prevent me from being captivated yet again as he moved around the room, addressing the group of young people gathered there (Year 10 students).

His entire talk was full of quotable quotes. One of my favourites is, “Get your work in the gutter and your mind in the clouds” — work hard, be at the bottom of the barrel, but keep dreaming and keep working towards that dream. He was emphatic in getting the young people there to understand that life was about asking others “How can I change your life? How can I make your life easier?”. Everything else will follow. I truly believe that that is what makes life worth living and feeds that need that we have to make a positive contribution in this world.

The quote listed below was one of the most striking out of all of them. Especially at this particular moment in time for me where I’m trying to figure out my place in the world and what my passion really is.

“The root of the entrepreneur is sheer persistence in your passion” — Michael Flynn

I haven’t really seen myself as an entrepreneur, always just as an ideas person. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.

I absolutely love ideas. And I love connecting with people. Connecting people with ideas, and people with each other. I get a sort of high off it which I cannot really explain.

I’ve often thought about the things that I made happen through sheer will-power and the belief that it could work out, even when it was totally out of my reach. This is not to say that this always happens. Yes, I’m also an introvert. Yes, I can also be a coward sometimes in social situation and let my social anxiety take over. However, when I see the potential in something, I’ve pushed through to make it happen. And I’m so proud of that. I’m also scared of losing that, of being too worried about what people think and what they will say.

As I try to figure out my place in this world and how I can use my passion to change someone’s life, I hope to keep reminding myself:

“The root of the entrepreneur is sheer persistence in your passion” — Michael Flynn.