The internet is full of life hacks, productivity tools, and good habits. For the most part, these models — and the people they're modeled after — are useful. And yet, we all seem to have imperfections that won't budge.
Related: Why bad habits are so easy to create and so hard to break
While good habits are all the rage, this list of do's and don'ts is overwhelming. Worse, focusing too much on behaviors to build and behaviors to let go can distract you from your mission and hinder your future success.
Fortunately, there is one quality far more influential than any productivity hack. What is that? Persistence.
To prove that persistence is more powerful than perfection, here are 14 of history's greatest visionaries and their bizarre flaws that are inconsistent, sometimes adulterous, and often eccentric – proving that perfection doesn't determine success, but perseverance just might do it.
1. Benjamin Franklin
The world's most influential proponent of self-improvement, Benjamin Franklin, was a womanizer. the Chicago Tribune reports 11 women Franklin "had", concluding with, "And, of course, Deborah Read, his wife of 38 years. ”
He even fathered a son, William, out of wedlock, just after he married Deborah, once saying, “After three days men grow weary of a girl.”
But his lust n didn't destroy Franklin's impact. Why? Partly because he acknowledged his problem, admitting, “The hard-to-govern passion of my youth had often thrown me into intrigues… which bothered me.”
Related: 14 Ways to Improve Your Self-Discipline
For Franklin, trying to be perfect was more important than being perfect.
2. Florence Nightingale
Known for her compassion, Florence Nightingale killed people with her ambition. In 1854, Nightingale was assigned to direct the management of a hospital in Scutari, a village in Asia. Unfortunately, Nightingale's lack of knowledge of sanitary conditions left a Scutari hospital overrun with typhus, typhoid, cholera and dysentery, causing the death rate in his hospital to skyrocket to 10 times higher. more soldiers dying of disease than actual battle wounds.
At first, Nightingale stubbornly attributed the high number of deaths to inadequate food and supplies. Years later, she accepted the painful truth that, due to her ignorance, many soldiers had died at Scutari.
Clearly, this painful truth did not stop her from doing what she felt called to do:care for the wounded with passion and perseverance. Today, that is all it is known for.
3. Thomas Edison
Despite his ingenuity, Thomas Edison was intransigent on a fault. After learning that the teenagers were speeding up the cylinder phonograph – an on-demand music player he had created – Edison replied:“This speed change is much worse than any loss from dance recordings that are too slow…. I don't want it and I won't have it.
He then ordered his machinists to "make a governor for the engine" to ensure his quirks were met.
Today's startup culture celebrates pivots and adaptation . Obviously, Edison did not have these characteristics. What mitigated his absence, however, was his courage. Instead of bowing to the wishes of the crowd, Edison knew what he wanted and didn't shy away from his vision, making him a force to be reckoned with in the world of success.
Related: The key to adaptability
4. Henry Ford
Henry Ford was a micromanager. "Nobody ever told him what to do," a source said, "at least not without expecting a fight at his hands."
As a result, "workers didn't like the monotonous repetition and staggering about their duties, compounded by the fact that Ford believed total discipline was necessary to avoid chaos. Employees were given a 15-minute lunch as their only break, and they weren't allowed to talk, sing, whistle, sit or lean on machinery. Even the smile was discouraged. Clearly, such management is seen as a leadership disaster, if not an abuse. Surprisingly, Ford's bad habit did not deprive him of success. His determination and tenacity at the forefront of a new industry ultimately won out over the emotional atmosphere created by his heavy hand.
5. Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein struggled with family relationships. Ten years after his first marriage to Mileva Maric, he had an affair with his cousin, Elsa. At first Maric resisted the divorce, that's when Einstein responded with a to-do list, hoping to force his hand:
"You'll make sure my clothes and laundry are in good order; that I will regularly receive my three meals in my room; that my room and my office are well maintained, and especially that my office is reserved for my use. »
Eventually, he divorced Maric and married Elsa. But business has not stopped. Once to a young man, he wrote:“What I admire about your father is that all his life he was only with one woman. This is a project in which I failed grossly, twice.
Einstein's scientific discipline did not seep into his relationships. Nor did his lack of relational discipline dampen his ultimate love affair with the theory of relativity.
6. Helen Keller
Helen Keller threw tyrannical fits in her early years. Common with deaf-blind children, the frustration of communicating plagued her.
A source reports:“She broke dishes and lamps, dug her hands into people's plates. On one occasion, she ran into the living room in her red flannel underwear and pinched her grandmother Adams, chasing her out of the room. Keller's seemingly out-of-control behavior weighed heavily on the family. Most of the family members thought she should be institutionalized. But that same frustration, at the age of 24, created a deaf-blind woman who could lip-read, Braille, speak, type, and finger-spell.
In the end , Keller's temper turned into determination, making her, as we know, one of the most influential, generous and empathetic women the world has ever known.
Related : The only thing that determines how successful you can be
7. Walt Disney
Synonymous with wholesome family entertainment, Walt Disney smoked like a chimney. One year, hoping to make up for the habit, the Disney girls bought him strained cigarettes as a Christmas present. Disney promised to use them and then broke the filters when the girls weren't around. His defence? "I didn't tell her how I would use them," he said.
Unfortunately, lung cancer took Disney's life at age 65. But her ambitious spirit has enabled her to accomplish more in 65 years than most others in a lifetime. Today, the Disney brand, built on Walt's determination, is still the pinnacle of family entertainment, despite its dirty lungs.
8. Elon Musk
Known for his optimistic outlook, Elon Musk is a pessimist. In a 2015 interview, he said, “I have obsessive-compulsive disorder over product issues. I always see what is wrong…. I never see what is good. This is not a recipe for happiness. Luckily for the world, Musk's negative attitude hasn't undermined his progress. In fact, his critical thinking is exactly what makes his inventions exceptional. It turns out that Musk's obsession with the perfect product fuels, rather than squelches, his commitment to the future.
Related: 11 Elon Musk quotes that will inspire you to dream bigger
What's better than the worst?
What each of these visionaries lacked in character, they made up for in perseverance. As Steve Jobs said, “I am convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful entrepreneurs is pure persistence. ”
While we all have shortcomings, the way we persist through our breakaways is far more powerful than the damage they actually do. In other words, it's not if we have imperfections that determine our outcome, but whether we are able to move forward despite them.
Related: How to turn your weaknesses into strengths
To illustrate that persistence is far more powerful than perfection, Venngage created this awesome infographic featuring 14 of the world's greatest visionaries and their biggest flaws.
