When Persistence Becomes Pointless
Every morning, without fail, there's a persistent sound that interrupts the calm of my mornings. It’s the sound of a woodpecker, consistently tapping at the drainpipe on the side of my house.
At first, I thought it was a fluke. Maybe just a random bird doing what birds do. But it continued, day after day, at the exact same time. Every morning, without hesitation, this woodpecker shows up and starts pecking at the drainpipe. It’s loud. It’s annoying. And, honestly, it’s pretty pointless.
We’ve tried everything—well, almost everything. We put up a fake snake. Then, we added an owl. You know, the classic methods to scare off any intruder. But here’s the kicker: the woodpecker? He didn’t care. He kept tapping away, as if nothing in the world could stop him.
And that’s when I had a thought: How many times do we act just like that woodpecker?
Hitting Something for Days—Wasting Time to Go Nowhere
I can’t help but laugh.This bird is literally spending his energy hitting something that isn’t going to give him what he wants. There’s no food in that drainpipe. There’s no reason to keep hitting it. It’s a dead end, yet he keeps going.
Isn’t that sometimes what we do in our lives? We get caught up in patterns, habits, or routines that aren’t taking us anywhere, but we don’t stop. We keep pushing. We keep trying to force something to work, even when it’s clear that it’s not.
We’ve all been there. We spend hours, days, weeks, or even years hitting the same “drainpipe”—whether it’s a toxic relationship, a job that’s draining our energy, or a mindset that’s holding us back. We keep trying, thinking that something will change, but we never get the result we want.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s something admirable about persistence. We’re told to never give up, to push through obstacles, and to keep going in the face of adversity. But there’s also a fine line between persistence and stubbornness. The woodpecker might be persistent, but his actions are pointless.
In our lives, there’s a lesson to be learned here: don’t confuse stubbornness with purpose. If what you’re doing isn’t leading you anywhere, it might be time to stop and reassess. Don’t waste time and energy on something that’s not yielding results. The woodpecker could be using his time to find a real tree to peck on, where he might find food and actually accomplish something.
The funny thing is, I’m not even mad at the woodpecker anymore. I get it. He’s doing what woodpeckers do—following instinct, looking for a place to peck. But sometimes, like the woodpecker, we need to learn when to let go of things that aren’t working. We need to have the wisdom to see that our energy could be better spent elsewhere.
Maybe it’s time to step away from the drainpipe, so to speak. Look at the patterns in your life. Are you like the woodpecker, stubbornly hitting the same wall or drainpipe that’s not yielding any fruit? Maybe it’s time to reassess, shift your perspective, or even try something completely new.
Lesson in the Noise
The daily sound of the woodpecker reminds me that life can be loud and distracting, and sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in things that don’t serve us. But like the woodpecker, we have the choice to either keep pecking away at something pointless or step back and realize there’s a better way.
As I sit here, I’m reminded that the choice is ours—to persist with purpose or to waste our time. So, the next time you’re faced with a task or situation that feels like hitting a drainpipe, ask yourself:
Is this taking me anywhere?
Am I being stubborn, or am I being persistent?
If it’s the former, maybe it’s time to look for a new tree.