Persistence
Posted on May 12, 2009
The inventions of Thomas Edison are legend. Electrical vote counter. Universal stock ticker. Light bulb. Phonograph. Motion picture camera. History records that even his home’s front gate had a creative and hidden purpose. When someone once finally complained that surely the great inventor could solve the problem of a front gate that took great effort to open, he revealed that with each visitor’s passing the gate was pumping water to his rooftop reservoir!
In addition to his obvious creativity, a hallmark of Edison’s work was his persistence. His notes frequently documented the ways something wouldn’t work as the stepping stones he followed to success. Edison reportedly unsuccessfully tried his nickel-iron-alkaline battery 50,000 times before getting it to work in 1900. How would history have changed if after 49,999 trials Edison threw in the towel? Could we have blamed him if he quit in frustration?
There can be little doubt that Edison was a unique individual. However, something must have nurtured his never-give-up attitude. I have a suggestion that may seem a bit too obvious. Every discovery did not take 50,000 trials. Just as for each of us, some things came easily to Edison. Edison learned to feed on those easier successes so that he had ample reserves when his work became tedious.
No, things don’t always come easily, neither are they always a struggle. Life will bring numerous examples of each variety. You may not realize that Edison also invented water-activated glue for attaching paper to paper. The U.S. Postal Service thanks him with every lick-able stamp they sell. That little invention simply required keen observation during a problem Edison was having cleaning his hands after working with glue. I would suggest that Edison gained such encouragement from the successes that came easily, that he was persuaded in difficult cases to believe that “the next trial” would bring success. It is not unusual for students to become frustrated when material becomes more difficult and then to begin a pattern of negative self-talk. A positive countering technique to use as you encourage your children is to remind them of other (often unrelated) times when success came more easily. Encourage them to transfer those memories to this new situation.
