How a 3 Year Old Taught Me About Persistence in Business

Watching my 3-year-old daughter persist at cornhole despite frustration perfectly mirrors and reminds us that consistent effort over time leads to success

How a 3-Year-Old’s Cornhole Game Taught Me About Persistence in Business A simple afternoon of playing cornhole with my 3-year-old daughter turned into an unexpected lesson about dealing with failure and persistence - one that deeply resonated with my own entrepreneurial journey.

There we were, tossing corn bags at a board with a hole, and my daughter was getting increasingly frustrated at her inability to make successful throws. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” she cried out in frustration. As an adult, I knew this was simply a matter of practice and time, but for her, the emotion was very real and intense.

Just as I was contemplating how to explain this concept to a toddler, something remarkable happened. Despite her earlier outburst, she kept trying. And within moments, she was excitedly shouting, “I did it! I did it!” She had solved her own problem through pure persistence, without needing my adult wisdom or intervention.

The Business Parallel This experience perfectly mirrors the entrepreneurial journey. Just the previous week, I had been feeling down about letting my team down due to illness. My colleague Kim reminded me that “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” While it’s natural to feel pressure and stress in business, we must remember that success is built over time.

Every significant achievement in building our product has taken considerable time. What might appear as overnight success is actually the result of numerous smaller efforts compounded over time. Those “quantum leap” moments we experience are usually the culmination of 15-16 previous actions that laid the groundwork.

Practical Application This lesson has directly influenced our current business approach:

We’re focusing on customer onboarding improvements Developing multiple landing pages for different customer profiles Implementing new features like project analytics Expanding our outreach efforts Even during what we might consider a “bad week,” progress is still possible. Just as my daughter didn’t give up on cornhole, continuing to show up and take action is what ultimately leads to success.

The Takeaway The most powerful lesson from this experience is that action cures everything. Whether you’re a toddler learning cornhole or an entrepreneur building a business, the principle remains the same: keep showing up, keep trying, and results will follow. Success isn’t about avoiding failure or perfect performance - it’s about persistent effort over time.

As I watch my daughter’s determination with her cornhole game, I’m reminded that someday she won’t even remember struggling with it. The same applies to business challenges - what seems impossible today becomes second nature through consistent effort and persistence.

Remember: It’s not about being perfect; it’s about being present and persistent. Just keep showing up, and the results will come.