People that Persistent

One day I was having a conversation with Mas Jensen on Whatsapp. He said he was reading an article about military. When you're friends with people, sooner or later you're gonna find out about them, like what their hobbies or interests. So, I asked him since when he had interest in military. He told me maybe since he was little. When he was a kid, he often played at airport. There he saw planes, both civilian planes and military planes. That led him to read about military aviation first. Later he expanded his reading about military in general.

All of a sudden I asked myself, "Did I ever have any interests when I was a kid? If I had, what were they? Perhaps I've become such a mediocre at this age because my parents didn't know what my interests and what my talents were, therefore they didn't properly guide me." Oh right, when you screw up at something, always blame your parents. *plaaak*

Mas Jensen's story reminded me of many stories that I've read many times before. The stories are about kids that have interests in something and they carry out their interests until they grow up. They're getting focus on things which they have interests, they put a lot of efforts, and they're so persistent. Let me give you examples. Carl Sagan was already curious with stars when he was five. When Jane Goodall was a child, she was given a lifelike chimpanzee toy by her father. She loved the toy and started her love with animals. Neil deGrasse Tyson was interested in astronomy since he was nine. And now look at where their interests lead them. I know there are still a lot of other names. Lots of them. I can't write down all the names. And I'm sure you also have some names in your mind now.


Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Neil deGrasse Tyson
pictures from various sources


What can we learn from these people? What do we need to do to be like them? I remember Kitin said something like this:

[These people] stick to their problems and curiosities long enough. Far longer than people usually do.

Do you get the point? Yes, it's persistence. When you're curious at something but you don't stick to it, don't you even dare to dream you want to make something different. 

Now, go find your passion, interest, or whatever that is. Stick to it. Be focus. Be persistent. Together let's do something and give something back to our society. Then, we can have a meaningful life. ^_^ 

17 comments

  1. Tapi jangan lupa juga, Kim: untuk seorang Bill Gates, ada ribuan orang berprofesi sama yang stagnan. Untuk seorang Haruki Murakami, ada ribuan penulis yang gak ke mana-mana. Bagi gue, just do your best and wherever life leads you, be grateful. Karena pada dasarnya, being you is enough. :)

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    1. Menurut gue sih "just do your best" dan "being you" ini ya termasuk dengan ketika kita mencintai passion kita. Kita gak akan berkeberatan melakukan hal-hal yang susah dan membosankan kalau kita mencintai apa yang kita lakukan. Pada akhirnya nanti kita akan bahagia dengan melakukan yang kita cintai.

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  2. falling in love is inevitable, staying in love is optional. it works too for this matter. if we love something deep enough, we'll always find a way to make it work. sometimes there were disputes or hatred or boredom, but you'll always go back and embrace it.

    on top of it all, do it happily :)

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    1. Right, Kitin. When we do it happily, everything seems easy and fun. We enjoy it. ^_^

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  3. Makanya orang-orang sering menyarankan kita untuk bekerja di bidang yang kita sukai. Sebab hal itulah yang bikin kita jadi persisten. Tahan banting. Dan persisten memang menjadi salah satu kunci utama untuk meraih kesuksesan :D

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  4. Pengen jadi persisten. Makanya berusahaaaa banget biar passion ku ini bisa dilakuin. Ada banyak planning yang uda aku susun Mbak, tapi buat sementara aku keep dulu sampek abis wisuda. :D

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    1. Yuk, jadi persisten bareng-bareng. Karena aku pun sesungguhnya sedang belajar juga untuk jadi persisten. :D

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  5. Hmm.. jadi inget masa kecil dulu, sering main-main di traktor, melihat aktivitas para pekerja kebun dengan alat-alat berat, dari kecil juga udah biasa ngotak-atik segala macem, eh sekarang beneran aku ada di bidang engineering.
    Dari kecil, bapak juga selalu ngajarin untuk kreatif. Kreatif memanfaatkan segala sesuatu yang ada. Dan sekarang, kerasa ada efeknya.

    Dulu waktu awal-awal kuliah, sempet pengen pindah jurusan. Karena merasa nggak cocok dengan persamaan-persamaan engineering. Tapi alhamdulillah itu nggak jadi. Karena sekarang baru sadar, inilah duniaku.

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  6. hobi dan passion-ku masih di dunia desain dan jahit-menjahit, tapi apa mau dikata sekarang kerjaannya jauh dari hobi itu, ngeluangin waktu buat ngejahit aja udah ga sempet sekarang (karena kerja dan anak). e tapi minggu kemarin aku buat satu langkah kemajuan sih, BELI MESIN JAHIT ELEKTRIK! hahaha.... ga tau kapan mau makenya tapi *sigh* - #malahcurcol

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    1. Ayo, Mbak, diterusin hobinya! Nanti bikinin aku baju ya? *loh, malah ambil kesempatan*

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  7. couldn't agree more. when we choose to live our passion, doesn't mean it will always be easy. Sometimes it's stressful and confusing. That's when persistent is needed. how to keep on trying even when everything seems impossible >malah curhat. But I always love that feeling every time I've finished my work

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    1. Just like my friend, Christin, said, "If we love something deep enough, we'll always find a way to make it work." :)

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