“What makes some men try to reach for the sky, and find the heights unsurpassed? What makes one horse run and race with the sun, while others won’t last?”

A songwriter I know wrote those words in one of the most inspirational bits of poetry I’ve ever experienced. “Great men are dreamers,” she said. “Who see what we can be and not what we are.”

Then if vision and dreams are the stuff success is made of, then why do so many people quit? What is it that separates those who succeed from those who fail?

I’m sure sometimes it’s circumstances, timing, and unforeseen events. But more often than not, I think some people give up before they really should because they lose their vision. I think they quit because they are not tenacious.

A friend of mine told me a true story a long time ago about a sugar bowl his mom had that she could not keep out of reach of the resident ant population at their house.

Apparently, this bowl was an antique, belonging to some nebulous relative who died and left the artifact to the family. The bowl didn’t have a lid, but Mom wouldn’t hear of trading the old dish in for a new model. So the ants would crawl onto the table and get into the sugar.

She put the bowl in all kinds of odd places to hide it from the ants. On top of the cupboards. In the cupboards. In the sink. In a drawer. But the ants kept finding it and getting into the sugar.

One day, Mom had a brilliant idea. She stuck the bowl of sugar right out in the middle of the kitchen table. Then she filled up four large bowls with water, and put each table leg in one of the bowls. She went to bed that night with an amused grin on her face, knowing she had outwitted the little critters. They couldn’t crawl up the table legs without falling into the water…and they were sure to drown should they try.

The next morning Mom trotted into the kitchen to make sure her plan worked. She picked up the bowl and peered in. Sure enough, in the bowl were ants. Bewildered, she looked on the table. No ants. She looked in the water around the table legs. No ants.

Then she looked up.

A line of ants ran up the wall, across the ceiling and right above the sugar bowl. The ants were dropping in, one by one.

Tenacity. Some people are successful because they never, ever give up. Nothing you put in their path will deter them. They WILL succeed.

Sometimes you might think that you’ve come to the end and there is no way out. Quitting is not an option.

Be tenacious.

Does your job (or lack thereof) have you discouraged? Are you in a relationship that seems like it is more work than fun anymore? Do not despair, gentle reader. Be tenacious.

Longfellow once said, “In the world’s broad field of battle, in the bivouac of life, be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife!”

Be tenacious.

How many times have we found the answer just in the knick of time? What if we had quit five minutes earlier? We never would have seen that miracle, or experienced the joy and relief of snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat.

Why keep beating your head against the wall?

Because if your head is harder than the wall, eventually you’ll shatter it to pieces. If you’re only tenacious.

Reprinted from my column in The Voice News, May 27, 2004.

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