Perseverance trumps talent
“The highest creative expression of a human is to create something new in the face of adversity” —Phil Stutz
It’s hard to keep going. That’s why 97% of people who plan to write a book never finish it*. They get lost in the “messy middle” or maybe don’t even get past the first few chapters. The stats I came across for those who do finish and then go on to get a book deal is even more dismal.
Does that mean the people who get book deals are more talented than everybody else? Some might be, sure. But there are plenty of talented people who don’t write more than one page. Talent, like beauty, is fleeting. In itself is useless. Grit is what separates those who want from those who do.
The reality is most people won’t get a book deal from the first book they write. That means, out of those 3% of people who finish writing one book, many, many will need to write two, three or possibly a fourth (or more) before they’ll see their book on a shelf. Those are hard truths to swallow.
We’ve all heard those stories from actors standing on the podium, accepting an award. They were rejected for this or that. Spent years, possibly decades, doing small roles before they got their breakout gig. It’s hard to persevere.
What makes people successful
Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, did a TedTalk on her research into what makes people successful. It wasn’t social IQ, intelligence, or looks, but grit, a concept she defines as passion and perseverance. It’s about sticking to something long-term—not days or months, but years. One interesting finding she uncovered is that grit is actually inversely related to talent, reinforcing this idea that it’s not talent that leads people to succeed.
The question is: how do you persevere in the face of adversity? How do you develop grit? According to Duckworth, it’s about having a growth mindset, a theory developed by Carol Dweck, a professor from Stanford University. A growth mindset is believing that with effort, perseverance, and drive, you can develop your unique skills and talent, while simultaneously using feedback and mistakes as an opportunity to improve. In her work, Dweck also builds on the theory of neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change and form new connections based on repetitive practices, meaning your brain and beliefs are not set in stone, but malleable.
Keep doing the work
I watched the documentary Stutz on Netflix, about renowned psychiatrist Phil Stutz, who offered insights that come directly from his practices. He says there are three aspects of reality that are unavoidable: pain, uncertainty, and work. I briefly touched on pain in a previous post about rejection, a reality of being any sort of creative.
That means, it doesn’t matter what you choose to do—whether that’s to write, paint, climb the corporate ladder—you’re destined to face adversity along the way. The good news is, if your goal is to, say, write a book, you don’t have to be the most talented writer out there. All you need to be able to do is, keep doing the work, and keep learning from your mistakes. Knowing you’ll face pain and rejection along the way is unfortunately unavoidable, and why embracing the process is the key to happiness.
Whatever it is that you really want, like truly really want, is not impossible. Most people will give up, but it’s perseverance that paves the real road to success.
*This is a common stat that floats around the internet, but I think this stat is lower—maybe 80-90% based on the querying action I see on Twitter. A 2021 survey conducted by ThriftBooks of 2,000 Americans found 8% of those polled had completed their novel.
