Patterns

“It was more psychological warfare, because I wasn’t going to let those fuckers get me down. I insisted with myself that I would continue to do whatever it took to get a job. It was like me against them, and in some way, unfortunately, I still feel that way. But I think if you’re really interested in acting there is a part of you that relishes the struggle. It’s a narcotic in the way that you are trained to do this work and nobody will let you do it, so you’re a little bit nuts. You lie to people, you cheat, you do whatever it takes to get an audition, get a job.”

• Gene Hackman, Vanity Fair

Perspectives

“I don't have a formula to pass on. I always did it my own way. Even today, I hold my independence close. It's what's most precious to me. Passion. Risk. Tenacity. Consistency. This is my professional history.”

• Giorgio Armani

“Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.”

• Thomas Carlyle

“If people ask me for the ingredients of success, I say one is talent, two is stubbornness or determination, and third is sheer luck. You have to have two out of the three. Any two will probably do.”

• Fred Saberhagen

Analysis

Gene Hackman died recently, aged 95. By the time he stepped away from acting in the early 2000s he had become a film icon—one of the most recognizable actors of the 20th century. His decades-long success obscured a brutal origin story.

His early years are a master class in perseverance. The excerpt above is from a 2004 Vanity Fair article, “Before They Were Kings,” which recounts the early struggles of Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert Duvall—three future stars living as roommates in 1960s Manhattan. All three faced rejection, but Hackman’s path was marked by something more forceful: open hostility. He wasn’t just overlooked—he was actively dismissed.

At the Pasadena Playhouse, he was voted “least likely to succeed.”

He received the lowest score in the school’s history.

A former instructor later saw him waiting tables at a Howard Johnson’s and reminded him, “You won’t amount to anything.”

Years later, a Marine officer from his past saw him working as a doorman and told him, “Hackman, you’re a sorry son of a bitch.”

The rejection was so constant and so personal, it bordered on parody. He was told again and again that he was not talented and would never be successful.

His breakout role didn’t come until 1967 when he was cast in Bonnie and Clyde—eleven years after he first enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse. He kept showing up. He didn’t retreat into bitterness or resentment. It made him defiant and it served as fuel. Even at the height of his success, he still moved like it was him against the world. He never let it go.

Insight

Vision alone isn’t enough. You can nurture a vision for years and still go nowhere. Drive is what compels you to act on your vision. To transform your sense of purpose into something tangible and concrete.

Hackman didn’t just have a vision for himself. He was driven. His dream defined his path, but it was his drive that brought him to the destination. Without fuel, vision and purpose are inert.

You need something more to carry you through the struggle. Day after day, month after month—when it’s not working out and not moving fast enough—what keeps you going?

Hackman's constant rejection became a part of his identity. He fused with it. Each instance of denial became a provocation. A taunt. He fervently believed that he was right and they were wrong. And so each subsequent rejection became a challenge—the next opportunity to finally prove them wrong. He was excellent and always had been. He knew it. He was simply waiting for the world to catch on.

Drive is often forged in a crucible of disappointment. Vision might point the way, but it’s the emotional tension—defiance, indignation, conviction—that makes people move.

Mastery

Drive is about emotion. If you can’t generate emotional fuel, your plans will fade away.

This is where most goal-setting and vision work falls apart. We create the plan but ignore the psychology. Vision boards. Affirmations. Visualization. These tools don’t fail because they’re shallow—they fail because they’re often emotionally flat.

You have to feel it. If you don't firmly believe in what you're doing, it will not come to be. You will not have the drive needed to remain consistent over time. The stumbling blocks will trip you up and ultimately consume your vision.

What carries you forward when you hit resistance?

Think clearly about your struggle. Locate your pain points. Rekindle your conviction. That’s where the fuel lives.