Video Games Show Us the Way -- Perseverance

For the next several weeks, our Wednesday posts will focus on lessons learned from 18-year-old Kevin Birrell, a Grand Master at the exalted game of Tetris.  You can read all about Kevin and his accomplishment here.

Last week, we talked about the importance of constant, diligent practice.  Practice pays off, no doubt, but all that practice is for naught without perseverance.

What is perseverance?  Perseverance is sticking with it, going forward no matter what.  Good times or bad, sickness or health, success or failure, you just keep on going, moving forward -- even if only an inch at a time -- toward your goal.

As any of you know who have played Tetris before, one wrong move, and all of a sudden, things start to go very badly, very quickly.  Your stack of blocks grows taller.  You have empty spaces locked in with no way to get anything in to fill the hole.  You have less time to figure out where to put that next block.  Pretty soon, most of us throw up our hands in disgust and just let the game end.

But not Kevin Birrell.

Even when things look their darkest, he sticks with it, doing everything in his power to turn a bad situation into good, to turn a potential catastrophe into a potential win.  It requires focus, tenacity, and just a little bit of luck.

I suffered from lack of perseverance early in my composing life.  Back in the early 2000s, my then-choir director had me write a piece or two for our choir; and then, because I had no clue what I was doing, he sent them off for me to a prospective publisher.  When the rejection came back, what did I do?  I stuck the pieces in a file folder and didn't look at them again.

Granted, they were bad, and I can fully see why no one would publish them.  But what I should have done is what I do now: as soon as a piece is rejected by a publisher, I turn around and send it right back out, usually within the day.  I don't cry; I don't moan; I don't complain.  It's all part of the process, and while that first publisher may not have wanted the piece, I know my work will never find its home while it's sitting in mine, so I send it back out into the world.

There are even times while writing a piece where things start to escalate out of control, and all I want to do is throw in the towel, concede defeat on the project.  Instead, I've learned to buckle down and try another method of attack.  Sometimes, I do back up a bit (erase a few measures) and get a running start, but it's all about sticking with it, no matter what.

Have you let difficult times or even perceived failures keep you from moving forward on your dreams?  What would it take for you to get back out there, get moving forward again?  If your dream is important to you, then persevere -- keep moving forward, no matter the cost, no matter the odds.

Tetris has taught us that, if nothing else.