In the confrontation between the stream and the rock,
the stream always wins — not through strength
but by perseverance.
H. Jackson Brown
Lang Lang is one of the most successful pianists of his generation. He performed before a global audience of four and a half billion at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. He sells out concerts wherever he plays and is beloved by audiences world-wide. He was a child prodigy and extraordinary talent — yet he almost gave up playing the piano when he was nine years old.
I was shocked to hear him recount the story of how he was told by his piano teacher that he had no talent — that he would never make it and should give up playing the piano. So distraught was he by this rejection (and his father’s harsh response to his ‘failure’) that he tried to destroy his hands by hitting them against a wall. It’s truly shocking to think that this phenomenal talent could have been extinguished and stamped out before it had the opportunity to flourish and be appreciated in the world.
If there was ever an example of how vital it is to persist in the face of criticism and rejection then surely this is it. There are many others: The original Harry Potter manuscript by J.K. Rowling was rejected umpteen times before it was finally published; it took years of persistence before James Dyson’s innovative bag-less vacuum cleaner was finally manufactured and made millions.
It’s all too easy to be dissuaded or knocked off course by the views of others — especially if you’re not feeling too confident yourself. But don’t be deflected.
Is there something you feel passionate about doing but you’ve given up because of negative comments or rejection by others? If you’re not sure, revisit the 80th Birthday visualisation in Tip 21 and see if anything comes up. Or try completing the sentence ‘If I really had my way I’d …’
Go for it. Persist. Life’s too short not to follow your passion.
Obstacles don’t have to stop you.
If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.
Figure out how to climb it, go through it,
or work around it.
Michael Jordan
Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water,
sings the pebbles into perfection.
Rabindranath Tagore
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
The most certain way to succeed is
always to try just one more time.
Thomas Alva Edison