Dear Next Generation,
After almost seven decades of life, I’m writing to give you—the next generation—the not-so-secret secret to success. But first, I must lay some groundwork through which the secret can be fully realized.
I was an average to below-average student throughout my time at a parochial school, graduating without fanfare some 50 years ago. I was from a fairly poor family, and if my classmates could have voted on the one least likely to succeed, I suspect I would have been at or near the top of the list. I clearly remember my obligatory high school guidance counselor meeting. The counselor asked me what I planned to do after graduation and I told him I was joining the Army. With what seemed to be a sense of relief, he said, “Good, because you don’t have what it takes to go to college!”
And so, a few hours after my graduation ceremony, I boarded a bus and was off to boot camp. It was my first time away from home. I was afraid. I was anxious. I was lonely and homesick. But I was one other thing—“hungry.” I was hungry to be, as a later Army slogan would tout, “all that I could be.”
In high school, I was not a sports star or an academic wiz. I was a nobody—someone to bully, berate, and generally overlook. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could be “somebody” in the Army.
I was not an immediate standout in the Army, but over time, I became a good soldier, earning special assignments and schools that paved the way for a few promotions. During that time, I remained hungry—hungry for knowledge and experience.
I gambled on a college class offered during the evening hours. I got a “B.” Not great, but not bad, either, for someone who was told only a year before that he wouldn’t be able to cope with college-level studies. That one class led to other classes—many other classes—and eventually to an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in business, and a medical doctorate degree, all with honors. That one enlistment experience also led to 16 years as a state trooper, 23 years as an attending physician and faculty member at a prestigious university, and 32 years of military service.
A never-ending hunger for life—for knowledge, enlightenment, and enrichment—is the very foundation of success, but what about the key to success? What is the secret to accomplishing what others thought was impossible? What gives you the confidence to take risks and push your own personal envelope? How does an average person become distinctive and unique?
The answer to these questions and the secret to success can be found in a single word: persistence. To succeed in life, one must be persistent in all things each and every day. I am not now, nor was I ever, the smartest or most adept. I nonetheless graduated at or near the top of my college programs by outworking and outstudying those around me. When others felt satisfied, I pushed for perfection. When others would rest, I kept going. When others stopped for laurels, I passed them by in the background. I persisted.
I doubt anyone will ever be able to define persistence better than President Calvin Coolidge. He profoundly described the virtue to its very core. He stated: “Nothing in the world can take the 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.”
Plato instructed those with torches to pass them on to others. I am passing my torch on to you, Next Generation. It can illuminate your path with a single reflection: persistence. Never ever quit!
—Terrence A. Smith, M.D.
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