In this episode, we will talk about the mindset required to truly persevere. Common advice is from people is to remain positive. Some recommend repeating affirmations many times in the day. In this episode, I’m going to tell you where the limits of staying positive are, how it can kill perseverance, and even cost you your life.

Why is perseverance important? Because if you’re on the path to freedom like many listeners of this podcast do, you’re doing something different by definition. While most of the world is running a rat race, living the 9-5, TGIF, chill-on-the-weekend lifestyle, you’re probably building, or creating something. You understand that there is a price to pay for freedom, and you’re willing to pay that price. Because the ultimate prize is true freedom.

There’s no getting around it: beyond a certain amount of money, we can have almost any lifestyle we want. But to get to that point, most of us build businesses. We work our asses off to increase our income. But building a business is almost like taking care of a big house that catches fire at random places every single day. On top of that, pressing issues keep us up at night. How do great entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and especially Elon Musk persevere till the end?

I’ll tell you a story about a Medal of Honour recipient named James Stockdale. During the Vietnam War, he was a captured POW for close to 8 years. When Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, asked him “who didn’t make it out?”, he said, “the optimists”. Now that shocked Jim Collins, myself too. As Stockdale explained, the optimists were the ones who said ‘we’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come and go. Then they’d say, ‘we’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come and go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.

Now the strange thing is, how did Stockdale know that he’s going to survive, despite all the odds being against him? Stockdale said, “you must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end … with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

This is the Stockdale Paradox. You have to retain faith that you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties. And at the same time, confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. My version of the Stockdale Paradox? “Have faith that you will prevail, but be a realist about it and embrace the suck”.

To all the people out there who are building something meaningful, who are part of a movement, or that you’re on your path to freedom, this episode is for you. I want to remind you that no matter how hard things can be, it’s just a matter of time before you prevail in the end. Screw positivity. Embrace the Stockdale Paradox.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, be sure to share, download or follow this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts from. If you’d like me to send you a PDF poster of my version of the Stockdale Paradox, drop me an email with subject line Episode 17 to [email protected].