Timeless & Timely

Timeless & Timely

Share this post

Timeless & Timely
Timeless & Timely
Persistence Pays Off
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Persistence Pays Off

Enduring hardship can bring valuable lessons — if you want to hear them

Scott Monty's avatar
Scott Monty
Sep 19, 2020
∙ Paid
1

Share this post

Timeless & Timely
Timeless & Timely
Persistence Pays Off
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share
The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault, 1818 (public domain - Wikipedia)
 

“Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy.” — William Shakespeare, 1595

 

Once you’ve made it through a tough spot, there’s something about adversity that makes you consider your good fortune.

The old maxim “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is trite, but it’s generally true. The emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius, upon hearing someone respond with sorrow that something unfortunate happened, framed it thusly:

“No, it’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it—not shattered by the present or frightened of the future. It could have happened to anyone. But not everyone could have remained unharmed by it.”

 

How freeing it is to be able to look upon the struggles we encounter in our lives as gifts that are given to us — incidents that we can learn from, if we’re curious enough to be life-long learners.

For what is leadership but a spirit of openness and reflection, and a willingness to alw…

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Timeless & Timely to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Timeless Leadership, LLC
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More