An oft quoted hackneyed maxim purports to inform us that the definition of insanity "is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Isn't insanity things like believing you're a chicken, jumping in front of a train or cutting yourself open so you can let the red hot roaches out of your veins?
Isn't trying something over and over likely how most great inventions came about, great wealth created, and how entire nations and industries were built?
Have you ever listed a home in the winter and had to wait until spring until it sold, all the while doing nothing different? Ever shown a buyer a house five or six times before they bought it? The Koreans have a saying "fall down seven times, get up eight." Here's more:
‘Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.'
‘Patience is the companion of wisdom.'
‘The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. ... It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider-and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation-persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.'
‘Innovation-any new idea-by definition will not be accepted at first. It takes repeated attempts, endless demonstrations, and monotonous rehearsals before innovation can be accepted and internalized by an organization. This requires "courageous patience.".'
‘Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.'
‘Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.'
‘It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.'
‘Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people 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.'
‘Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.'
‘Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done right.'
‘Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.'
‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.'
‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.'
‘It's not that I'm so smart it's just that I stay with problems longer.'
‘I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.'
‘Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.'
‘A setback is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.'
‘Energy and persistence conquer all things.'
- Benjamin Franklin ‘Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.'
‘You've got to say, "I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it." It's called perseverance.'
‘We can do anything we want to so long as we stick at it.'
‘For all of us today, the battle is in our hands. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad highways to lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. We must keep going.'
‘Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.'
‘Defeat doesn't finish a man-quit does. A man is not finished when he is defeated. He's finished when when he quits.'
‘Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.'
- Plutarch
‘The difficult is that which can be done immediately; the impossible that which takes a little longer.'
Persistence pays, and if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Don't let tired aphorism control your thoughts and deeds. Adages were made to be broken!
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