To Be Relentless

One of my advisors, Jeff Hilimire, hit the nail on the head when he told me, it’ll just take time.

Patience has been my hardest lesson. Jeff knew it would be one of my biggest adversaries.  He’s an entrepreneur.  He’s been there.

Some lessons come naturally and seem to just be a logical expansion of what’s written into our genetic code.  Others don’t come quite as naturally and just take constant practice.  Neither scenario guarantees brilliant understanding of any given lesson.

I’m ambitious and have intense visions of what could be.  It isn’t in my DNA to want to move at anything but a rapid pace and meet high expectations.  But, this can be dangerous if one loses sight of the fact that things take time and progress is built one small, persistent step at a time.

This realization is an important step in the maturation into a successful individual.  Now that I’ve recently begun to reflect on it, I see this Truth was staring me in the face all my life.  To illustrate how powerful and pervasive this meme is, I’ll present it in several contexts that I’ve experienced in my life:

• I did a project on Thomas Edison in the 3rd grade.  “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” said Edison.
• In high school, before football games, Al Pacino’s Any Given Sunday speech used to get me going.
• On a TV program, some years ago, the author of Good to Great commented on observations of prisoners of war that were able to make it out of prison alive and well.  “Those that were able to face the brutal facts did best.  Not the optimists nor the pessimists.  The ones that knew that it would take time, that it would be tough, did best.”
• The incredibly insightful Dale Carnegie says, if you want to accomplish a lot, live in “day-tight compartments”.  It isn’t about tomorrow or yesterday.  It’s about the present and the task at hand.
• Several years ago I was listening to a manager speak about project management.  “Every project is simply thousands of small tasks,” he said.
• My business partner, Nate, tells me about Malcolm Gladwell‘s book Outliers. In it Gladwell posits, that in addition to other factors, an individual doesn’t become remarkable in a craft without 10,000 hours of practice.
• My friend Bryan sends me an article on Grit and how persistence is a better indicator of success than intelligence.

However, the most inspiring example of this meme comes from Paul Graham (with Al Pacino being very close). While Paul Graham is best known for his work with startups, I tend to have a greater appreciation for his commentary on art and design.  Paul’s brain does a good job of “connecting the dots” and making abstract connections.  I like that.  He’s insightful and writes with a hint of brashness that gives him a hard edge; I liken his written persona to the nice guy that isn’t afraid to say “Fuck You” when he needs to.  I like that even more.  Here’s Paul’s version of the one-persistent-step-at-a-time meme, paraphrased from his book Hackers & Painters :

If you look very closely at Da Vinci’s Ginevra de’ Benci [pictured above], you’ll notice that, in the background, every single leaf of the tree is individually painted. Thousands of people marvel at this painting as they walk by, and they don’t even notice.  Da Vinci didn’t paint it this way because he thought people would be putting his paintings under a microscope.  da Vinci was relentless. When you add up all those details, you get something worth looking at.

da Vinci was relentless.

I don’t know of a better way to express the concept.  Leonardo epitomizes genius.  Relentless captures the concept in every way. While patience connotes poise and contentment, it lacks tenacious pursuit.  In terms of the path to success, patience is incomplete. Patience is too close to complacency.

And maybe this is the problem.  To a great extent, we are what we are willing to make ourselves.  Deep down I know I’m not patient. I don’t want to be patient. However, deep down I do know I am relentless. The key realization is that patience is a part of being relentless.  In light of this, I can be patient when I need to.  Since I’m relentless, I’m capable of being patient by default.

I think about this daily. Each day I accomplish many small tasks that add to the momentum of my startup–completing a document, scheduling a meeting, making a deal, gaining an insight.  I convert one person at a time and show them that what we’re doing is important and awesome and monetizable. Each day I write and do some sketches in an attempt to get a portion of the flurry of ideas out of my head and delivered to someone who might be able to use them.  Each day I add a few sentences to some other publications I’m working on.  This is how progress happens.  The concept of the omni-productive genius is an illusion.

Willingness to conquer one small step at a time.  Patience to accept that it will take time.  Persistence to pursue when faced with the brutal facts.  That’s what it takes to be relentless.  And to be successful, or to build something great, you need to be relentless.

Kevin
9.2.2009