Paul Graham has written that one of the surprising things they learned after starting Y Combinator is that determination is the most important factor in predicting success, even more important than intelligence.

There’s a great quote from Teller (of Penn & Teller): “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.”

A quote from Marc Randolph, the Founder & CEO of Netflix:

I keep saying how brutally hard this is. Each time you crest the rise in front of you, it just makes it clear the size of the even larger hill that looms beyond it. It goes on for a long time. I pissed blood for years keeping Netflix alive while we figured that shit out – as did every other successful entrepreneur in the valley.

Oh man:

I think of Elon Musk, on his third failed rocket launch, after putting his entire fortune into his three companies, having to borrow money to pay rent, with just enough cash for one more launch before successfully reaching space and closing a deal with NASA.

Musk describes it best: “It’s like chewing glass and staring into the abyss.” In the worst times, the pain is both physical and mental. There’s a part of his 60 Minutes interview I watch at least once a month, where Musk is asked if he considered quitting after his third failed launch. He replies in a quiet, understated voice: “Never. I don’t ever give up. I’d have to be dead or completely incapacitated.”

We've all been there:

I think of Bill Walsh, coaching the 49ers, with the worst record in NFL history, trying and failing to break an eight-game losing streak against the Miami Dolphins. I think of him sobbing in the dark on the flight back to San Francisco, while his assistant coaches shielded him from being seen by any of his players, and nearly submitting his resignation before changing his mind and going on to win three Super Bowls.

I think of Buckminster Fuller, broke, seeing his daughter die of polio, and on the verge of suicide, before deciding to embark on “an experiment, to find what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.”

I think of Tony Hsieh selling LinkExchange to Microsoft for $265M, eventually investing in, then joining a struggling shoe company called Zappos. I think of him investing more and more of his own money until he went broke and sold his apartment at a loss just to make payroll before being acquired by Amazon for nearly $1B.

You determine the greatness of your accomplishments by the amount of pain you’re willing to pay down. The more ambitious you are, the more glass you’ll have to chew. Everyone has their grind, even people doing what they love.

Eric Barker calls this grit and determination.

the army calls it grit too