So you believe persistence is the root of success, since you said my article was 100% false (from the title of the story)?

Beethoven, haha! The people you mentioned are arguably self-built individuals. I teach that self-made is not a thing, because 1) only 1% are an 2) those I work with, and myself included, are not self-made people. Self-made people do not come to me, or anyone. If they do, they are not self-made by simple definition (and a fake self-made man actually said he does everything himself, including his video editing, haha!!). If you knew me, you would know I would never tell my clients to expect to be the 1%. Who does? People can build to be the 3%, and I work with people on that, if they are no-joke, balls out. But the 1%, in every example I have ever seen, takes something people were born with. I venture to say these three men are close to genius. I bet if I Googled it, they are said to be. This is way beyond the point of my story, but I am pretty sure most geniuses only need persistence. They were persistent IN their how, skill, and craft. If I ever had a counselor or coach who said I could be them, I would get up and walk out. It baffles me beyond belief that these men would be used as examples for the layperson. And it kinda lowers their value if anyone could be them. It sounds like someone just wants me to be wrong, so they find HOW. Haha! My point. And you did, you found how. By using geniuses.

I'm also curious about another thing. I gave two examples of my persistence, and I have a dozen more if you're interested. I am trying to understand why my greatest success in writing, which had nothing to do with persistence, was thrown away as if I was just plain wrong. Actually, you said my article was not true "at all." Not even 1%. Funny thing is, although I may be "incorrect" when it comes to three men, are there not three other men I would be correct about? "At all," is literally extremely rude to say, knowing there could be one person out there who needed this today and then read your comment. Instead of taking time to learn and build, according to a formation and principles they DON'T KNOW, they read your comment about me not being right at all, believed it, and went back to being depressed because they tried something in all their strength, and it never worked out. And according to you, it will no doubt. The National Library of Medicine says that persistence is a multi-trait. Exactly what I said. I have also heard it said that persistence, by definition, is trying something over and over until the result is achieved. But like I said, if you are training a lion the wrong way, persistence in the wrong way does nothing. If I want to drive, but I press the brake for 14 years with a lot of hopes and prayers, did I drive?

How do I get into the US Marshal Service? Answer: Know someone. Just like you said, BUT that is the HOW. Side note: this is true because you need a federal reference. Knowing someone is how. That is how. Not all the how, though. There are 24 other things that must line up. Just like the National Library of Medicine said. All I said in my article was you can be persistent in the wrong direction and not gain what you set out to gain. So find out where to point persistence. How is that wrong?

I want to go south, but I ask a person which way is south and they don't actually know. Then, no, just knowing a person has nothing to do with success. I have been in jobs where people delegated wrongly. I knew a mechanic who put a military truck back together, and had all the persistence in the world to do it himself. But he forgot something, and it did not start. It took a better mechanic (Beethoven, in essence) to find it, and it took that person four hours to fix it. That is a waste of time. Persistence does not protect against forgetfulness, misinformation, etc. Which is why I simply and gracefully told my readers to be persistent in learning and other things. How is that a bad thing? You really promote that people forget learning and continue doing what they think is right? How am I 100% incorrect?

Lastly, like I said in another story, all my stories have some of my wife's thoughts, too, so I'll let her know if she has not already read your comment.