Recently, I noticed that there were twigs falling down our chimney and lots of squawking of birds. Some birds were trying to build a nest.
I contacted our chimney guy but he wasn’t able to get to us till a week later. He shared that it was probably jackdaws.
Now, I must give credit to the birds. They were persistent and smart. Over the next week, they brought more and more twigs. And larger and larger ones too.
But it was of no use. The problem was not the size of twigs or their dedication. It was the location.
I see this happening a lot on both the professional and business level. Clients ask us: ‘I have put so much effort into the presentations/work/solving the problems, why I am not achieving success?’
The reality is that persistence and passion alone are not enough for us to achieve our desired outcomes. We need to be willing to explore and equip ourselves with all the resources that can help us to succeed.
The client having issues with her presentations needed to learn how to present more effectively and confidently to influence her stakeholders.
The client putting blood, sweat and tears into his work will not get the recognition because his fixed-mindset superior has a tendency to steal the credit.
The client who invested time and money into solving problems found that the solutions did not work because there was no clarity on the root cause(s).
When we are able to debunk the myth of persistence and passion, it gives us the freedom to approach challenges differently.