6-Pack of Persistence

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." —Teddy Roosevelt

Where do you get your inspiration? I was reading this morning that people fail from lack of inspiration. Furthermore, we can become less than inspired when we allow the cares of this life to block our view of the promised land. Or in the short term, when we loose sight of the goal or mission that seemed "so sure" just days or weeks ago. Allow me to share of a couple of sources (six actually) of inspiration that help me in my vigil to be more persistent:

1. Teddy Roosevelt
2. Les Brown
3. Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones
4. Colonel John Boyd
5. USMC
6. Kimberly Kinsey

I would hope the first five are obvious to even the casual reader. Number Six will not be much of a surprise to those that know me on a personal level. My wife taught me the value of determining the "payer source" in any project that I launch and when I fail to explore this component of the business plan with enough detail, it always (not sometimes, not occasionally, but ALWAYS) comes back to bite me. She is like Steve Jobs in this sense; Jobs has margins that everyone in the tech world would love to emulate. In other words, it takes money to make money. If you fail to get this component right in your project, little else matters. You simply won't be able to tread water long enough to breakthrough. Those of us driven to make a difference in the world too often forget Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs! Rushing in "Where Angels fear to tread" is a part of my DNA, so it takes a conscience effort on my part to explore the payer component of any "next, big adventure!" So I am privileged to have a true helpmate in this arena. But the other five are available for use on your next project. Might I suggest that you consider me to complete your 6-pack? Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah ski@throughput.us www.throughput.us P.S. I recently added a Press Room to the "new & improved" Throughput.us web site. Check it out. ©2010 Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved. Teddy Roosevelt photo is in the public domain.