Persistence is an excellent concept to keep focused on when slogging through the ups and downs of developing a startup.

​Here is a quote from Calvin Coolidge, who was a U. S. president in the early twentieth century, that describes the power of persistence,

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men 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.”

I want to share a story that taught me the meaning of persistence and determination.​

The Boy and the Bike

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I grew up in a neighborhood filled with kids. Almost every house had at least one youngster. We played and rode our bikes everywhere. Bikes equaled freedom, and we were all left free to roam.​

There was one boy who was a mystery. He would sit in his window each day and watch us ride and play. He had a terrible disease that limited his ability to move. He never came out of the house.

​Kids left to their own devices can be cruel. They focus on making fun of any little thing, a name, clothes, a speech impediment. But no one made fun of this kid. The circumstances he had to deal with and endure were too brutal even for kids to ignore.​

One day, his father came home with a bike. It had training wheels. Not just on the back, on the front wheel too!​

The next day his dad carried him out and mounted the boy on the stable contraption. He took a pedal, and it immediately tipped over, and he ended up on the pavement.

​His dad watched from the window. The boy struggled, got the bike upright, and got himself back on after a long and tedious effort. He took another pedal and landed right back on the pavement. This bruising cycle went on until dusk when his father collected him and took him back in the house.​

The next day he was at it again. And the same cycle took place time after time. On the bike, on the ground. Slowly back on the bike, quickly back on the ground.​

Day after day, this routine played out. The boy would perform his arduous effort, and his father would watch from the window. And I would watch them both.​

Back then, there were no bike helmets or elbow pads, and the boy became bruised and scraped. I thought, why doesn’t his dad help him?​

Then one day, while the boy laid there, it started raining. It began to downpour. The dad watched from the window as the bruised boy got back on the bike, pedaled, and fell off into a puddle.​

I went over to help him up, and he waved me off. I looked up at the dad, and he shook his head no. I thought, what a dick this guy is to let his son flounder out here.​

Then something amazing happened. He got back on the bike, soaking wet, and started to pedal. And pedal. And pedal! He went down the block, turned around, and came back!​

He looked up at his dad in the window, and he was laughing and clapping, and the kid was laughing. I had never seen him laugh. And I started crying. It was raining, and no one could tell, and I wept without holding back at the power of this triumphant moment.​

Whenever I feel like throwing in the towel, I think of that boy, and I get back on the bike and take one more pedal. When we are persistent, consistent, and don’t give up, small actions add up.

Press on!

I extracted this story from a longer piece I wrote for B Schools. Check it out here.

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