Success is about failing in and out without losing enthusiasm.

You need to be persistent. Hey, even outright crazy.

The ability to fall, stand up, fall, stand up.

It’s not taught in school.

This is known.

But even then we do so little to change it.

I have struggled to build this muscle. Because most things I do require little risk.

Most paths I have chosen are risk averse.

By definition most jobs are a safe, risk-averse bet.

You will get paid for the unit of labor that you put in.

But most of business and life is not like that.

The reality is that long-term success from my experience is found in those that can keep doing things for long enough time horizons.

And when you extend the time horizon far enough, you inevitably run into challenges.

Challenges that make you feel like your world is ending.

But if you can make it through. Well, then those challenges often feel trivial.

By doing things that have no pre-defined outcome, I have been able to build a new muscle.

Tolerance.

Tolerance for uncertainty.

Uncertainty makes being enthusiastic very hard.

We want to know the outcome. We want to know the answer. But we can’t always.

Having enthusiasm through the peaks is easy. That’s human nature.

Feeling down and out but still finding the enthusiasm to continue. That’s irrational. It’s crazy.

Bottom-line? We need to be irrational. Almost crazy. About what it is we are doing.