People Power: Persistence and flexibility: The synergy of inner strength – Oct 2025
By Sam Allman
In my last column, “The Source of Unconquerable Power,” I highlighted the inner strength of Nelson Mandela. His life remains one of history’s greatest testaments to persistence through inner strength and indomitable will. For decades, he endured imprisonment, isolation, and the crushing weight of a dream that seemed impossible-the end of apartheid and the establishment of equal rights for Black South Africans. Yet he refused to yield. His persistence was not merely stubborn willpower, but the natural outflow of that inner, unconquerable reservoir of strength.
Inner strength grows through the deliberate exercise of mind, body and spirit-especially in the crucible of life’s trials. Every hardship, every setback, is an invitation to grow tougher, wiser and more resilient. Life becomes our teacher, but only if we choose to embrace its lessons rather than resist them.
When you understand your purpose, willpower transforms from brute force into conviction. It is no longer just about pushing through difficulties; it becomes about being pulled forward by your values and your vision. Purpose gives persistence its fire and direction.
People with inner strength may not always appear traditionally “tough,” but they radiate calm, inspire trust and lead with quiet resolve. This quality is cultivated through reflection, hardship and a steadfast commitment to personal growth. Strong inner reserves shield against frustration, fear and doubt, allowing you to steady yourself when challenges mount. Each trial overcome reinforces the belief: I can handle this. That confidence makes your will unshakable and fuels the persistence necessary to transform obstacles into opportunities.
Persistence, at its core, is the act of not stopping. But when guided by inner strength, it becomes purposeful, adaptable and even inspiring. Rather than pushing forward blindly, inner strength adds wisdom, allowing you to adjust strategies without abandoning your mission. This creates grace under pressure, where persistence is calm and dignified rather than desperate or rigid. Persistence becomes endurance with meaning: not just “I’ll keep going,” but “I’ll keep going because this matters, and I am built for it.” Will is the decision to act, persistence is the continuation of action, and inner strength is the deep reservoir that makes both sustainable, noble and unshakable.
Persistence transforms effort into achievement. The difference between success and failure often lies in quiet determination-the ability to keep moving when motivation weakens and obstacles appear overwhelming.
President Calvin Coolidge captured this timeless truth when he declared: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
To reinforce Coolidge’s wisdom, history offers endless stories. Consider Thomas Edison and his countless attempts to invent the light bulb, or the words of those who understood persistence at its core. Edison observed: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Or recall the fable of the tortoise and the hare, paired with Confucius’s steady reminder: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Persistence and determination do feel nearly omnipotent. Almost. But not entirely.
There are times when persistence, on its own, is not all it’s cracked up to be. It can be ineffective-or even counterproductive. As we’ve often been told, insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And Peter Drucker wisely warned that effectiveness, not mere efficiency, is what truly matters. We can persist endlessly, but if we are persisting in the wrong things, we are only getting better at being wrong.
Persistence alone can harden into grit, determination and the ability to push through obstacles. But if it becomes rigid-clinging to one plan, one method or one expected outcome-it quickly turns into stubbornness, wasted energy and burnout.
That is why persistence must be paired with wisdom and adaptability. Flexibility is its natural complement. Persistence without flexibility may drive us off a cliff; flexibility without persistence may cause us to drift aimlessly. But together, they provide balance. Flexibility keeps the end goal in sight while allowing us to adjust the path when circumstances shift, opportunities arise, or evidence reveals a better way forward.
A tree in a storm that stands rigid may snap, while one that sways with the wind survives. As the saying goes, “You can’t control the wind, but you can always adjust the sails.” Persistence keeps us moving forward; flexibility ensures that our movement is effective.
When persistence and flexibility are combined, they reveal the paradoxical power of harmonizing opposites. As physicist Niels Bohr famously remarked: “The opposite of a true statement is a false statement, but the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.”
The power of paradox
The power of paradox lies in the fusion of seemingly opposing qualities that, when harmonized, produce extraordinary results. Persistence and flexibility may appear contradictory-one drives forward relentlessly, the other adapts and bends-but together they create resilience capable of enduring trials while adjusting to change.
Similarly, confidence with humility fosters leadership that is both bold and teachable; discipline with creativity enables innovation; and strength tempered by compassion leads to influence that uplifts rather than dominates. These paradoxes, when finessed, form a symbiotic relationship where each principle nurtures and enhances the other, proving that true power often lies not in choosing sides, but in mastering the balance.
In leadership, careers and personal goals, this balance takes the form of being “stubborn on vision, flexible on details.” Such a mindset builds resilience, sparks innovation and greatly increases the probability of success. You are persistent enough to keep moving forward, yet wise enough to adjust tactics when current ones fail. You hold firmly to your why but remain agile with your how.
Persistence sets the course, resilience keeps us from breaking under storms, and flexibility ensures we actually reach the destination-perhaps not in the way we imagined, but often in ways richer and more rewarding than we first planned. Alone, each quality may falter. Together, they make us unstoppable-omnipotent, as Coolidge suggested.
Blending persistence with flexibility
When blended, persistence and flexibility prevent each other’s weaknesses from dominating:
• Persistence without flexibility becomes stubbornness, wasted energy and eventual collapse when conditions change.
• Flexibility without persistence becomes inconsistency, lack of follow-through and abandoned goals.
But together, they create balance. Persistence keeps you advancing toward your ultimate vision. Flexibility allows you to adjust the route when the original path is blocked. A persistent leader never loses sight of the mission. A flexible leader is willing to change the strategy, the methods, or even the roles required to get there.
The synergy is what makes people, organizations and even entire societies resilient and effective. Like a river carving through mountains-flowing steadily but bending around every obstacle-persistence provides strength of direction, while flexibility supplies the wisdom to adapt.
The personal characteristics of flexibility
Flexibility does not happen by accident. It grows out of personal qualities that act like skills. Together, they allow us to adapt without losing our sense of purpose.
Humility is the heart of flexibility. It allows us to let go of being “right,” to release our grip on control, and to acknowledge when our first approach isn’t working. Humility separates identity from outcome, making room for change without shame.
Curiosity fuels flexibility. It asks, “What else might work?” and refuses to treat the first idea as the final. Curiosity leads to creative breakthroughs that rigid thinking would never uncover.
Situational awareness sharpens flexibility. It is the ability to read the room, sense the environment and anticipate shifts before they fully arrive. With this awareness, we adjust proactively instead of reactively.
Creative problem-solving powers flexibility. Obstacles rarely come with easy solutions. Flexible thinkers experiment, test and revise. They see failure as feedback and respond with innovation rather than paralysis.
Emotional agility anchors flexibility. It equips us to manage emotions in real time. When plans collapse, frustration, fear or anger can take hold. Emotional agility allows us to acknowledge those feelings without being ruled by them.
Together, these qualities prevent persistence from hardening into rigidity and keep resilience from becoming mere endurance. They allow us to bend without breaking. Flexibility is not compromise-it is strategic wisdom.
Edison, Mandela and the living proof
Edison is often remembered for his persistence, famously remarking that he had not failed but simply discovered “10,000 ways that won’t work.” Yet what made his persistence so effective was not stubborn repetition-it was his willingness to adapt. He tested thousands of materials for the light bulb filament, from cotton to bamboo to beard hair. Each failure became a pivot point, not a dead end. Persistence kept him moving; flexibility enabled discovery.
Mandela provides an even more profound example. Twenty-seven years in prison could have hardened him into bitterness. Instead, he emerged with extraordinary flexibility of spirit. He persisted in his fight for equality but flexed in method-choosing reconciliation over revenge, dialogue over violence. Persistence gave him the strength to endure; flexibility gave him the wisdom to heal a fractured nation.
The Author
Sam Allman is CEO of Allman Consulting and Training and is a motivational speaker, consultant and author. He has created hundreds of training and educational learning programs and systems for major corporations. He can be reached at sjallman@gmail.com.