How does one persist in the middle of adversity and when everything within one’s psyche is crying out to quit, to give up, to get back to the status quo and being comfortable. After all, that is where most of one’s friends and acquaintances live and one will always have company there. In fact, in most cases, you will be welcomed back with open arms by many of those around you. They may even throw a party for you and proclaim that there friend was lost, but now is found.
But the impact of the pain of living with regret can only be fully measured toward the end of one’s life when the achievement of one’s dreams has faded into distant memories and is replaced by the recognition that mediocrity was actually a choice made and not a hand dealt.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s when I was growing up, my father was a dedicated Green Bay Packers fan, which was odd since I grew up in Connecticut about 40 miles from New York City. But my Dad loved Vince Lombardi, the great NFL coach of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi was a winner and he inspired his men to accomplish great things. I became a Packers fan too. My favorite quote of Lombardi’s was: “I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted, but victorious, on the field of battle.”
So how does that translate into an action plan for success? Let’s try three simple things:
- We must pre-determine what our response to adversity will be because it will happen: Adversity will be any obstacle that arises to knock us down, move us off course, or get us to quit. When adversity does arise, we are able to draw from our pre-determined reservoir and overcome the obstacle (most are in our thought life) and move on. It could be as simple as an ice cream soda to derail our diet plan to a source of funding drying up that threatens our new product introduction strategy. Those who succeed think differently than the average “Joe.” They just keep finding ways to press on.
- We must decide what sacrifices we are willing to make and we must make them. To some, it is as simple as giving up the time wasted watching television each week and replace it with time spent writing that great novel the world has been waiting for. For others, it may involve finances and/or relationship changes. But sacrifice is critical. Nothing comes easy. The best outcomes are always worth fighting for. What is your sacrifice?
- Finally, we must know going in that if we do not give up, we will reach our objective. I have helped hundreds of sales leaders in a variety of industries and countries achieve overwhelming success in both their financial and professional lives. The only thing that they all had in common is that they were undeterred by failure and did not quit. They came from all walks of life; many of them had no college education, were not beautiful or handsome and were not the smartest or most eloquent. But they never gave up
If you will stick to your plan and you are persistent, you will accomplish great things.