I was visiting with my two daughters recently and one evening as we sat around reading (they’re avid readers), I came upon a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert at TED2009. Her topic was “Your elusive creative genius.” Ms. Gilbert, an author, was musing over the fear of not being able to live up to her recent smashing success. You see, Ms. Gilbert had recently skyrocketed to fame due to the huge success of her international bestselling book, Eat, Pray, Love. How can she match such success with her next book? Or, dare we ask, how can she top that success?

Her conclusion is simple – just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Keep showing up. Sometimes the creative genius emerges and sometimes it doesn’t. But it will never revisit if you give in to fear and frustration.

It’s a great lesson for all of us – whether you’re a creative, artsy type or you’re analytical, logical, a see-all-things-black-and-white type – or somewhere in between. In business and in life, the “secret” is to keep on keeping on. That elusive genius, or the “zone” that we find ourselves in when we do our best work, will come back.

Frustration sets in. There are times when our situation frustrates us. And even though we are doing all the right things, the outcome is not what we desire. So we change things. Sometimes that is the right thing to do but sometimes we are doing all the right things already. There are other forces at work – the non-receptive client, the non-responsive staff member, or the “leader” that ignores and doesn’t listen. Even when those things exist, keep on. Don’t let fear and frustration rule the day.

So persevere. In the words of Ms. Gilbert, “Have the stubbornness to keep showing up.” You do, and the genius will return, the client will be receptive, your staff responsive, your superiors will listen.