Dad Said It Best
Age-Old Truths for Modern Times
“Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” ~ Thomas A. Edison
My dad loved repeating this “inspiration-perspiration” quote from the famous inventor of the light bulb (and numerous other things). He used these words to motivate us kids to work harder at every project we undertook. In fact, his favorite companion quote along these lines was, “You can do anything you put your mind to.”
You don’t perspire until you push past the point of comfort. It requires intense, targeted effort. The key to genius is not genetics, but setting a high goal, then following through to its completion. More times than not, effort makes up for lack of natural talent.
Edison expounded upon his popular quote to make his meaning clear: “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment, and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.“
No question, we’re all incredibly busy. It’s worth asking yourself the question, ‘Where does all my time go?’ Spinning our wheels doesn’t count. Surfing the web or social media doesn’t count. Texting and chatting don’t count. Total viewing commitment to that Netflix marathon or pro ball tournament doesn’t count, either. Seeming to do is not doing.
“Real work,” as Edison called it, can be tedious, exhausting and frustrating. Edison himself failed repeatedly. In response to a question about his ‘failures,’ Edison once said, “I have not failed 10,000 times — I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
Edison — who continued working into his 80s — arrived at brilliant solutions along the way. He secured 1,093 patents for different inventions, including the light bulb, the phonograph and the motion picture camera… all which remain relevant to modern life.
Think about it. If you ever tried to learn a new instrument or attempted to throw pottery or even were forced to adapt to a new software system at work… it all seemed impossible to master at first. Initial outcomes can be messy and ugly, even after investing hours of intense, focused work. But eventually, almost imperceptibly, the steps fall into place, you find your rhythm, and you actually start to enjoy both the process and the outcome. But that only happens if you stick with it past the point of comfort.
If you work hard enough to perspire, you build strength and endurance in the process. So when you hit a wall, you don’t give up in defeat. Rather, you summon up the ‘inspiration’ to try again with a slightly altered approach. Maybe this time you’ll discover that genius within.
Dad and Edison said it best.
