“Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. Mediocre CEOs point to their brilliant strategic moves or their intuitive business sense or a variety of other self-congratulatory explanations. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers. They all say, “I didn’t quit.”” – Ben Horowitz in his book ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things‘.
Don’t quit… be persistent against adversity. It is true that I have observed that many successful top executives do show this capability. Weathering the storm, keeping calm but decided as to the general direction, getting all sorts of scolding and social pressure, and still persisting.
Your business, or your project, if a bit ambitious, will go through ups and downs. And sometimes the down moment will look abysmal. Note that’s where most people give up. That’s the great filter that separates the people who will make a difference and will create their mark for all to see. Not giving up. No quitting when (almost) everybody would quit. Sticking to it.
If you want to be successful, just don’t quit. Just stay when everybody else leaves running for cover.
