Most of the challenges we face in our lives can be overcome through hard work and perseverance. I have been inspired by famous perseverance quotes such as “Quitters never win and winners never quit” from Vince Lombardi. I have come to believe this is misguided advice.
I was recently given a book by Seth Godin called “The Dip” that has helped to reinforce these beliefs. Some of the concepts from this blog entry are from this book.
All extraordinary people have had to make it through dips in their lives, and a tremendous portion of their greatness was achieved because of their perseverance in the face of trials. So, I’m not advocating quitting the right things just because things are tough. Extraordinary benefits can be achieved when a person makes it through the most difficult challenges. I’m talking about being willing to quit the wrong things at the wrong times.
Where would Bill Gates be if he had not quit Harvard to start Microsoft? Were would the United States be if George Washington had not chosen to repeatedly retreat when he faced battles he knew he was going to lose? Where would we all be if Jesus Christ had not allowed his persecutors to crucify him to make possible the atonement? What would happen to a company that didn’t stop selling an obsolete product, or a person who never quit his high-school job at Burger King? John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, is arguably highest raking judicial officer in the world. However, he has had to sacrifice or quit many activities so that he could be so successful academically and professionally.
Winners know when to quit and when to perservere. They quit the right things at the right time. However, they never quit the right thing just because of short-term stress.
This weekend I saw the movie “The Astronaut Farmer” about a man who always dreamed about being an astronaut, earned an aerospace engineering degree and was a pilot in the NASA space training program. However, he had to drop out of the NASA training program when his father committed suicide and he had to help take care of the family farm. He never gave up on his dream. He built his own rocket in the face of intense pressure from the community, the bank, the government and the media. He almost killed himself in his first attempt to launch his rocket because of an unstable fuel combination. However, with the help of an amazingly supportive wife he was able to become the first private citizen to build his own rocket that he launched into space, orbited the earth, and returned safely. I know this is a fictional story, but it was a great example of the need to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve most amazing accomplishments. From this movie, I also learned that there is a fine line between “delusional” and “genius”, and the difference is generally determined by whether someone else thinks you are going to succeed or fail in your goal.
Another important point is that the most successful people don’t just “endure” the challenges of life and survive until better times. Instead these successful people try harder, effectively solve problems and creatively modify their course of action. Challenges usually don’t last as long when we are proactively and consistently moving forward in overcoming the challenge.
Sometimes we find ourselves in proverbial cul-de-sacs where it is impossible to keep moving forward. There’s not much to do in this situation except to recognize the situation, and get out of it fast so we are able to focus our time and efforts on areas of our lives where we can be truly successful.
This week we made the decision to close a long-running business division that has been operating at a loss for years. This business unit was the one-stop shop for products in a specific niche, but we found it was very difficult to sell other people’s products that Amazon.com could always buy and sell for less. We love this division, have invested in it heavily, and have seen progress. However, it has become painfully clear that our limited resources of time and capital could be much better spent in other projects where we can see a much greater return.
The concluding point is that we need to quit the wrong situations, overcome the challenges in the right situations, have the wisdom to discern the difference, and the courage to take the course of action we know is right.
Find The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
(Source: The Dip)
Posted on August 5th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: Book Reviews, Business Management, Life Lessons, Self Improvement
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