Rob Walling

Of course, you can Google it or go to paulgram.com if you want to read the whole thing.

Quote, the reason the persistent and the obstinate seem similar is that they're both hard to stop.

And I want to break in right here.

He's using the word persistent to describe successful founders.

These are founders that get it done, they have a vision, and they keep going after it.

They're persistent.

He's using obstinate to define founders who are stuck in a certain direction.

They seem persistent, but they're actually stubborn, and they don't change their minds when they should.

So resuming this piece.

They're both hard to stop in different senses.

The persistent are like boats whose engines can't be throttled back.

The obstinate are like boats whose rudders can't be turned.

It's a great analogy.

In the degenerate case, they're indistinguishable.

When there's only one way to solve a problem, your only choice is whether to give up or not, and persistence and obstinacy both say no.

This is presumably why the two are so often conflated in popular culture.

It assumes simple problems.

But as problems get more complicated, we can see the difference between them.

The persistent are much more attached to points high in the decision tree than to minor ones lower down while the obstinate spray don't give up indiscriminately over the whole tree.

The persistent, and this is the key right here, the persistent are attached to the goal.