32.3. The Power of Persistence

32.3.1. Embrace Failure

Does the following statement resonate with you? If so, perfect.

"If I stumble, I WILL pick myself up, brush off the dust, and try again."

All throughout LC101, you will be asked to code. Each exercise, studio and assignment is designed to give you experience through practice. You WILL make mistakes, and that is OK. Often, our mistakes teach us more than getting the correct answer on our first try.

Every genius programmer you see on Facebook or YouTube started out in front of a screen saying, "Oops," "ARGH!" or "#*&%%@#!" No one simply "gets" coding without some trial-and-error.

32.3.2. Where Would We Be?

What if Thomas Edison had given up?

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything. He was fired from his first two jobs for being non-productive. As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?"

Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

Or if Steve Jobs had taken Hewlett-Packard's advice and finished college?

Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get companies interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer:

So we went to Atari and said, "Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you."

And they said, 'No.'

So then we went to Hewlett-Packard,

and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'

Do…or do not. There is no try. Do your homework.