If at first you don't succeed...

We all know the value of persistence in business. President Calvin Coolidge once wrote, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than the unsuccessful man with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded (genius) is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent."

But persistence isn't just important in business. It's equally important in all of life's pursuits. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Thomas Edison tried more than 1,000 different filaments for his light bulb before finding one that worked. And Dr. Seuss's first book -- And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street -- was rejected by 27 publishers before he found one who would publish it.

Imagine if any of these three men had given up. The NBA would have been left without arguably its best player ever. We'd all be writing by candlelight (okay, maybe not, but it sounds more dramatic that way). And generations of children around the world would have been left without such classic tales as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, to name just a few.

Any endeavor worth pursuing involves struggle. Those who persist are those who succeed. So don't give up. Success may be one jump shot, filament, or publisher away.