They almost always get you in the end. Persistence is an amazing thing. It can carve out the Grand Canyon or it can help you climb Mt. Everest. It can break down a uncooperative prisoner or it can create a world-wide chain of fast food stores. The power of persistence is perhaps your strongest ally or your largest foe.

I must confess, in the past I have succumb to the persistence of the ordinary, the constant clubbing with mediocrity, the ever present status quo. I have spun my wheels until they become smooth from the friction I get when I try to do the extraordinary or when I try to ask the question “no one is supposed to ask”. In the past the “culture of mediocrity” beat me down until I, just like most everyone else, no longer cared anymore about my job, my employer, my performance, my future, my growth. I like most everyone I met would only do the minimum to get by. I would only do just enough to keep ahead of it all. Of course, in the end, I realized that this compromise of my ideals was extremely costly, and I suffered, am suffering the consequences.

Unfortunately, once again I am confronting my nemesis. New surroundings, new people, same old attitudes. Surely everyone who ever finally surrounded, started with grand resolve and great confidence that they would be able to persevere. However, once you have surrounded once, it is usually much easier to do so once again. If I am to withstand the torture I am receiving and will continue to receive I need a new strategy, new allies, and a new defense for I am afraid that blind faith in persistence will not be enough.