Surprising and interesting quote from the inventor and designer James Dyson (gleaned from Runners World of all places):
What I’ve learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you’re hurting like crazy and you want to give up. The moment you should accelerate is the moment you’re the most tired. The beginning of the final lap is the testing point, and so I found that to be in life. Success is often just around the corner. You might make a discovery. You might call it obstinacy or determination.
It almost made me sort of relish that moment. I see it as an opportunity, that point where if you know you can get through that bit, you’re going to make an important discovery that someone else might have made except they gave up, because they couldn’t get through the difficulties. I got that from running.
It reminded me of a quote from restauranteur Pru Leith on a similar topic, doggedness.
As I mentioned then, often in business there is a focus on the sexy topics of creativity, imagination, knowledge, innovation, strategy and so on but sometimes the key to success can lie in persistence and determination. In other words, an attitude of mind, and oddly something which is rarely discussed in courses and workshops even though it appears it’s something that can be learned and developed (as in Dyson’s running story above).
On this topic, Seth Godin interestingly put ‘attitude’ as his top factor for business success (above Approach, Goals etc).
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ” Winston Churchill
Picture credit here.
