Thoughs on Grit and Persevering

May 9, 2020 grit persevering [random]

When I think of grit, I think of Brendan Van Son. Brendan Van Son is a travel photographer which means he goes around to different countries and takes pictures. If you look him up today, he comes across as a successful photographer and youtuber. He has about 150-thousand subscribers, jets all over the world taking photographs, hobnobs with famous photographers, and leads high-priced photography tours.

He didn’t start out that way. The earliest videos I can find are of him going to Africa and making a series called It’s My Life 365. All he had with him was a gopro with which he traveled by himself to and through Africa. Highly unsafe.

Somewhere along the line he started publishing a daily vlog which is where I started watching, one of which I remember was him settling in Buenos Aries. He really went all out with the vlogs. He used drones, a high end camera, gimbals and the effort really shows in his videos.

The key component of grit is making plans and then sticking to and improving upon them. When I see his success, I remember him starting with the gopro videos, him making a commitment to do daily vlogs, and the sheer effort and gumption he put in with sticking to it. There were times when it felt like he rushed the video and barely got it out that day. I recall him talking about being lonely, how tough it was, and the months where he barely broke even. I doubt that when he started, he knew he’d be as successful as he is today. But he stayed with it and that is grit.