Once upon a time, there was a small river flowing across Northern Arizona.  Over millions of years, the rainfall near its headwaters eroded a channel that connected it to a lake on the eastern side of the Kaibab, forming the Colorado River.  The additional flow from the lake gave the river enough power to enlarge the river’s valley, creating the Grand Canyon.  The Colorado River has now been tamed by a series of dams, but it continues to slowly erode the solid rock of its bed – a process that will continue until it reaches sea level.

Nearly all successful people obtained their goals through perseverance.  We may be more impressed by the power they have gained and mistakenly consider that power to be the source of their success, when it is just a side effect of their perseverance.