The invaluable quality of “Persistence” can make the difference between being a Prince or a Pauper:
True story:
In 1942, three prospectors journeyed deep into the jungles of Venezuela in search of diamonds. Raphael their leader cut their way high into the mountains where he was confident high quality diamonds could be found, based on assayer’s records.
Deep in the Amazon jungle, the men spent months digging and examining stones. After months, their supplies running low, their clothes in taters, their hands raw and their bodies aching and tired, they had not found a single diamond.
Raphael sat on a boulder and called the men to him. He held up a stone and said, “this will be the 999,999th stone I have examined and not one diamond. If I pick up one more stone it will make 1 million stones I have held, but what’s the point? I am tired, I give up. I am going home.
One of his men said “Raphael, why not pick up just one more stone? Make it an even million, then we can go.” Raphael reached down into the dirt. “Alright .. an even million”. He picked up the last stone and held it up to his men. “An even million” he said.
As he was abouth to drop the stone he noticed a sparkle. He examined it, brushing away the mud and the clay, revealing a diamond.
This diamond in its raw state turned out to be the largest and purest diamond ever found in history, up to that point. Named the “Liberator Diamond” it weighed 155 carats in its rough state and after months of study was cut into four smaller near perfect stones. The largest sold for $200,000 in 1944 … $2,775,000 in today’s value.
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Mark Twain said: “90% of success is just showing up”. Persistence is the key. Keep “suiting up” and “showing up” no matter what and it no longer becomes a matter of “if” you succeed … it simply becomes a matter of “when”!