Dreams lose their lustre over time. What remains is tenacity, if you like persistence. In the beginning, creating a dent in the universe becomes so simplified in your mind that you begin to feel it will happen tomorrow. Just do it and the whole world will give you that standing ovation! And the laurels will start begging for permission to enter your sitting room Simple, right? And then you start that great business or social enterprise. And then tomorrow comes and nothing happens! You say to yourself another tomorrow is the true tomorrow.
A cluster of tomorrows soon becomes one year, then another, then another. Then you get your greatest shock: nobody really believes in that ‘rubbish’ you fancifully call ‘big idea.’ The mockery that ensues this realization makes you doubt whether you are a badassness. So many things may go wrong at this trying moment. The worst of them all is giving up. Sometimes, you can’t help it: you need some rest. So many things may make you doubt, make you depressed, but please don’t kill yourself.
Friends, it is at this juncture the outliers become separated from the ordinary guys. This is where the Bill Gates and Edisons of this world became separated from their peers who had similar enthusiasm and probably better intellect in the beginning. It is not always about the idea. It is more about the process, about the building, about the presentation. Friends, this is where persistence comes in to take over from wish, from dream, from genius and all those fancy words that kept you moving over the years.
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Teachers, parents, and in some cases journalists hyped you, but they didn’t tell you it was going to be this bad. Nobody really taught you how to deal with all the rejections, mockery and negativity. So, while our dreams of changing the world and innovating for tomorrow, the reality of the matter may force us to reshape our priorities. That fire, that raw passion mixed with exuberance and blissful ignorance is a great way to start. We could never have given up that job or withheld the resumes, if we knew the whole story! However, just as it is true that the truth will set you free, persistence is what will make you fly after you are free.