We all know talented people who never seem to reach their potential. These people often have great early success, then seem to fade into averages. Those who lack persistence start out with the best intentions, but they eventually drift. This trait is quite characteristic, for example, of people who are constantly changing careers. They become enthusiastic about their new job and feed off this momentum for a while to perform. well. But when this newness wears off and they realize they aren't incredibly committed to sticking with that job in the long term, their success begins to wane and they start to fail.