Perseverance

Jesse Owens, arguably the greatest track and field athlete ever, described perseverance as “an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” 

His perspective on perseverance from the 1930s rings as true in 2019. There are two critical ingredients of perseverance that are often overlooked. First, one has to experience struggle, setbacks, doubt, disappointment and the associated emotions and feelings. Second, one has to experience the trials and experimentation it takes to find solutions, remedies, and strategies toward success, victory, and achievement. 

Perseverance is ultimately a recounting of all the receipts you have from struggling to overcome an obstacle, reminding yourself that you’ve done it before, and then doing it again - and again - and again. Perseverance ties us back to the themes of the past several newsletters: you must decide how bad you want ‘it’, know the ‘hard parts’ and the effort it will require, make the necessary changes ‘around the edges’, and consider the reframing and self-care you need to be authentic in your pursuits. 

If it is true, that the ‘obstacle is the way’, then the next steps are simple (see above)...it is the instability of the path that we must face that limits our possible future. So, leader, are you willing to accept 100% responsibility for your perseverance?

Quote for Growth

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." - Thomas Edison

Video of the Week

The Obstacle is the Way