I love that phrase. Perhaps it's because I embody it: I just spent the last three hours of my life learning how to install and configure Apache, PHP, and MySQL onto my new MacBook. For those of you who don't know me, this otherwise routine learning experience was very special: after nearly 13 years of being PC, I've gone Mac.
And I hear that once you go Mac... well... you spend an entire evening cursing because you secretly desire for that Fn key to be the Control key that used to power all of your keyboard shortcuts. But after thirteen years and three hours, I discovered this truth about my life: perseverance trumps talent.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a pretty talented guy. (My wife thinks I'm modest, too.) For years people have been telling me that I'm talented. They've said things like, "I hope you like making money" and, "the sky is the limit." But truthfully, I think any success I've ever enjoyed has been based upon my absolute aversion to giving up, throwing in the towel, and calling it a day.
Now, you'll never be able to pass that one over on my high school football coach (I quit after the first day of the second season of practice) or my cub scount leader (she was a smoker and I was a child); but when it comes to my work - that daily practice of sitting in front of my computer for 8+ hours - the only force more powerful than my will to succeed is my body's need for rest.
Speaking of which, we're crusing up on bed time pretty quickly. I have ten minutes left before I have to start this week's after-hours update of system code...
