The Magic Of Perseverance

By G.Frick

Besides physical pain, nothing can rise our emotions to the highest levels as quickly as winning and losing. Just the thought of winning a million dollars, a metal, an Oscar etc. can send you for a limited time span to paradise. On the other end of the scale, the hit list of triggers for the highest stress levels starts with loss of a loved one, loss of the job and the table goes on and on.

As I went on my own emotional roller coaster through trading on the stock market, I learned many other things besides how to go through a sleepless night. One of the most interesting conversations with a very successful stock trader helped me to put a few things into perspective.

For most of us it appears like the winners walked always on the sunny side of life - well, this is surely not the case. Paul told me that before his money started rolling in, he lost substantial amounts 15 times in a row. "Only perseverance and hope kept me going!", he said. For me this formula was more than just comfort after I thought I was hard done by losing 4 times in a row and for Paul it made the difference between the nine to five race or living on an tropical island where a flaky phone connection to the internet is his major concern.

Shortly after my talk with Paul, I heard about the shortest talk in history demonstrating the power of perseverance - Sir Winston Churchill took three years getting through eighth grade because he had trouble learning English. It seems ironic that years later Oxford University asked him to address its commencement exercises. He arrived with his usual props. A cigar, a cane and a top hat accompanied Churchill wherever he went. As Churchill approached the podium, the crowd rose in appreciative applause. With unmatched dignity, he settled the crowd and stood confident before his admirers. Removing the cigar and carefully placing the top hat on the podium, Churchill gazed at his waiting audience. Authority rang in Churchill's voice as he shouted, "Never give up!" Several seconds passed before he rose to his toes and repeated: "Never give up!" His words thundered in their ears. There was a deafening silence as Churchill reached for his hat and cigar, steadied himself with his cane and left the platform. His commencement address was finished.

While I'm writing this, Columbia TriStar started a big budget movie about the Antarctic explorer Shackleton. His story shows as well how perseverance is the only way out of a hopeless situation - Shackleton set out at age 40 to make what he considered the last great exploration left: a 1,500-mile crossing of Antarctica.

The ship set sail from England in August 1914, and by January got stuck "like an almond in a piece of toffee," according to a crew member, in an ice pack one day's sail from its destination on the Antarctic coast. It sank 11 months later. There was no radio contact, and no one knew where they were. "In fact, there was no way they could survive, except they did," says Ms. Alexander, who when interviewed last year on Boston public radio drew call-ins from dozen of ardent Shackleton fans. Shackleton's gift was to rally and maintain the morale of his crew, to a point where they even played soccer on the ice floe. He did it without losing a single man- to death or to the starvation, scurvy, madness and mutiny that plagued other ill-fated expeditions. The name of his ship by the way was Endurance.

If you think...