“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

–President Calvin Coolidge*

I love Charles Martin’s writing. He’s a novelist and a Christian non-fiction author who lives in the south, writes of the south, and whose words reek of the south. I’m partial to southern writers.

I came home the other day and my wife, who’d just finished his book, Maggie, told me, “You’ve got to read this.” She was talking about the book’s “Acknowledgments” section, something she usually skips. But this one caught her attention.

Martin came clean and bared his soul about his early failures as a writer: writer’s block, self-doubt, and numerous rejection letters, the latter being the norm in the business. Matter of fact, Martin mentioned that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s debut novel, This Side of Paradise, was rejected one hundred forty-six times before someone picked him up.

Another fun example: Joanne Kathleen, a single mom living on welfare, had a dream to be an author. Over several years, she imagined the story of a boy and his adventures. Her initial manuscript was rejected by twelve publishers, or possibly more, before a little-known London agent, Christopher Little, agreed to represent her. That’s Joanne Kathleen, as in JK Rowling. In her case, persistence paid off … big time!

It’s a tough business, and while I’m not in a league with Fitzgerald or Martin, and no one’s in a league with JK Rowling’s success, I’ve experienced rejection several times. One has to have a tough skin and a lot of self-belief. My wife’s lived with my ups and downs, so Martin’s words, and his wife’s response to his decision to forgo a lucrative business offer to keep writing, resonated with her.

Martin persisted, and now he’s published numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. Persistence. That’s the key word.

Maybe you’re retired and think now that your career’s over, you’ve run your race and it’s time to rest. It might be … or maybe not. If that little voice in your head tells you to write, to compose, to draw, to sing, or to dance, don’t ignore it. Pursue it, not necessarily as a career but as an avocation, or just something to keep your brain active or your joints loose.

To ignore such an urge is comparable to saying to your civic or church community, “I’ve served my time. Let someone else do it.” Whatever “it” is, if you’ve got the mental and physical capacity to still do it, don’t walk away. You could be missing experiences and moments that would enrich your life.

For you still-employed gals and guys, perhaps you feel stuck in your job. Turns out, it’s not the right fit. You don’t seem enriched by it or, when you get home in the evening, you feel you haven’t made a difference in anyone’s life that day. Don’t let the status quo define you; move in a different direction.

If you’ve ever shifted one hundred eighty degrees mid-stream and headed against the current, you know it’s not easy. It requires work, courage, and, above all else, persistence in chasing that dream or that dream job.

Our days are numbered, but we don’t know when our “number” will come up. Life is too short to ignore the gentle nudges of our hearts. Listen to them. Act on them if you’re able. You never know what might happen.

Just ask Charles Martin.

* Coolidge was a man of such few words he was nicknamed “Silent Cal,” but he nailed it with this quote!