Tav and I have been finding cicada shells in the yard for several weeks.  He’s been fascinated by ‘em, so I set a goal:  To find one coming out of the shell so he could see what emerges, what they become.  Hard to do?  It might be easier to run and pee at the same time.

But after weeks of searching, finally it happened one evening.  I found a cicada working its way out and showed it to Tav, and I got the picture you see here.  It took this guy an hour and a half to get to this point, so you could say he was persistent alright.  I’ll tell you at the end of this post what eventually happened to him, but in the meantime let’s consider persistence, its necessity—and its pitfalls.

Tell me I’m wrong:  The business success gurus would have you believe that quitting is antithetical to success, that persistence is king. 

Sure, I know history vouches for perseverance. 

There’s the story of Colonel Sanders and how he heard “no” 1008 times. 

There was Thomas Edison, who defended his lack of a workable light bulb by asserting, “I have not failed 700 times… I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work.”

When it comes to success strategies, QUIT has always been a dirty word.  After all, quitting is failing, right? 

Well… sometimes. 

While the value of persistence is obvious enough that it’s touted everywhere, here’s what nobody ever tells you:  Quitting isn’t always a component of failure; it’s also a talent. 

Knowing when to quit one thing, so you can transform into another endeavor, strategy or simply a different phase of the same effort, is a little-known key to success.

Stories like the Colonel’s and Tom’s are inspiring, but here’s what they don’t cover:  Persistence doesn’t always pay. 

Persistence can play out on 2 very different levels, one ending with the successes we always here about, the other with failure.  And when persistence fails its student, one of these 2 factors are at work:

1-Persistence Interrupted—What we never hear are the stories (because they aren’t known) of those who thought they had a great idea, persisted—and then quit just before they found success. 

It’s been said that success with an idea, invention, or business often comes just after the most desperate, hopeless, and difficult stage of the effort.  It’s the most trying time, just before the peak of the mountain is reached, where the truly committed are separated from, well, the rest—those who are doomed to “average” at their own hands.

The other form is…

2-Futile Persistence—Here’s the other kind of story we never hear:  Of those who persisted at an effort that was impossible—and they refused to adapt, adjust, or abandon it.  They didn’t know when to quit… and do something different.

Focusing on the outcome is at the same time intoxicating and blinding, empowering and deadly.  Keeping the goal in mind takes us to it, but there are also times when changing the plan is a requirement for survival.  Blindly clutching to one thing and ignoring workable alternatives is fatal.

So if you have something novel you want to pursue, it can only fall into one of these 2 categories:

1-With enough persistence, it will work, or…

2-It’s unworkable, regardless how long it’s tried.

So here’s the big question:  How can you know which category your goal falls into?  How can you figure out whether you have a plan/idea/invention that will eventually work with enough persistence…  or whether it’s truly impossible, regardless?

So back to the persistent cicada:  Every 10 minutes or so I went out and checked his progress and snapped another picture.  The last time I went out, I was about 20 feet away when I saw a bird fly up from the grass, about 10 feet from where the cicada was “hatching”.  

When I got there, the shell was in the grass, and the cicada was gone.  He’d made the mistake of coming out of his shell just inches off the ground, within easy reach of the bird.  He had the persistence required, but his bad judgment illustrates that timing and placement are just two more necessary ingredients for success—that’s another post, I guess. 

So sometimes it’s smart to quit this thing… and move on to the next thing.  The art of success is knowing that what you’re seeking will come, or knowing when you should quit—and try something else.

Every entrepreneur, celebrity, or public figure you’ve ever heard of “failed” many times before they became a household name.  Their vital talent wasn’t their obvious one:  It was knowing when to quit… and change the plan.

Have you ever quit something too soon?

Have you ever succeeding when others would have quit?

Of all the success skills that no one talks about, this one may be the most critical:  Do you have the talent to know when it’s wise to quit—so you can find success?

-jef

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Life Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.