Always Persevere, Always Persist!

It takes most people years to become super successful, yet I had one of my most awesome lessons on success when I went on my first job interview right after I graduated from college.

It might have been the luckiest day of my life! That moment probably defined my entire career.

I was at my interview with the branch manager of a prestigious New York-based financial service firm, and he said he could tell that I was perseverant and persistent. What’s more, he told me that these are the two key qualities that employers were looking for! I never forgot that piece of advice, and I tried to make those qualities a big part of who I was as an employee.

Later, at my first ever therapy appointment, the therapist told me that he saw my strength and perseverance as my ace in the hole. I’ll never know if this was coincidental or not, but that too has stuck with me.

As I progressed in my career, I began to notice these qualities in others: coworkers, the people I hired, and the people I worked for. I began to recognize that I saw these qualities much more often in men, and I wondered why it was that women were not as strong and as persistent as they could be.

Recently I read an interview with Kathryn Minshew, CEO of The Muse, an amazing online career resource, in which she talks about her own persistence and how her ability to “find a way around any obstacle” is the attribute she credits most for her success. I realized that this message — the great benefits of persistence and perseverance — is a critical one to share with every student we have the privilege of coaching, supporting, and mentoring.

Once you narrow down your own qualities and home in on your best-fit career path, go for it with vigor! Persist, persevere, and don’t stop going after what you want. You will always get to where you want to be! I am convinced that is how you create the outcomes you want in life!