Faith And Persistence

Michael Keaton in The Founder

TL;DR at bottom.

I re-started running after college, about a year ago. Needless to say, the motivation was that I was in too bad a shape and looked like your typical favourite fat TV show character.

So something was definitely needed to be done. Also, I’d met some like minded runners in our office who were very helpful in giving the initial push to start-off with 'mini-marathons’.

After a few months of doing morning runs and whatnot on an almost daily basis, I stopped. The motivation (weight reduction) and the novelty associated with these mini marathon runs eventually faded out giving way to shorter and shorter runs every time I got on the road and then I even started skipping runs to have some extra sleep in the morning. What i now call it was some sort of a mid-running life crisis.

This happens to a lot of us, and it’s not a shame. We all are humans in fact. In a lot of our life’s aspects, we start off rather well, giving it all we have got in the initial phases but eventually we start losing steam.

As we progress further, many times we might not know what we are doing and why we are doing and how we landed in this place. So why are we like this ?

Which reminds me of Ray Kroc. Several years ago I had read a short description about him in Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. But it was only recently that I rediscovered him and his life through the Michael Keaton starrer film The Founder.

For the uninitiated, Ray Kroc is the man behind McDonalds. Not technically a founder of the multi billion dollar global food chain, but founder in a way that he moulded the company to what it is today.

After WWII, Ray probably started his long term career as a milkshake mixer salesman and was still a salesman at the age of 52, hauling the equipment long distances in the back of his car to give a demo to potential clients (restaurants) who could buy the mixer. It was a very good product, very fast at making milkshakes, probably the fastest in the entire country, and would have been a great addition to any kitchen in a restaurant. But there was a problem, majority of the restaurants did not need that because their food preparation time was way too long (probably 30mins to 1 hour for a drive through type) and the customer couldn’t care more if the shake came from a fast modern shaker or from the slow, conventional milkshake making methods.

But then one day, a bulk order took him by surprise. Where at present he was unable to sell even one mixer to a restaurant, this never before heard of restaurant ordered somewhere around eight. Pleasantly surprised, even shocked maybe, he paid a personal visit a couple of thousand miles away and was dumbfounded to see this restaurant complete his order in 30 seconds instead of the then expected 30 minutes!

Eventually he meets the McDonald brothers and learns of their techniques of running this revolutionary kitchen like a clockwork. Sure, he thought to himself, if this restaurant idea could be expanded to other states, it would be a gold mine. But to his dismay, the McDonald brothers disagree.

So the rest of the story is of his convincing the brothers of the idea, then expanding the franchise to other states rapidly and him becoming the eventual owner of the company. He believed the idea of an expandable franchise for McDonalds to be so true, so possible, so obvious that you would be a fool to not do it. His faith was so strong in this idea, that he one by one overcame all the difficulties that he had to face- disagreements with the original founders, quality control issues, beaurocratic barriers, cash crunches etc. How ?

There’s a line that Michael Keaton says in the beginning of the movie that sums it up so well.

Nothing in the world can take place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

So coming back to where I started with this post, I probably would re start running this week. In fact I have been lifting weights for the past 2–3 months or so and it genuinely feels great. Running would be an icing on the cake.

I just need to keep my eyes on the goal and remain in discipline this time so that it becomes a long term habit.

Leaving with a relevant quote.

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.

~Bill Gates on faith, probably

Again, quoting from one of my favourite books:

Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith. Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart.

~Phil Knight (from Shoe Dog)

TL;DR: Faith and persistance are perhaps the only things needed to get what you want, not necessarily talent, education or genius.