perseverance

One Step Backward Two Steps Forward

One Step Backward Two Steps Forward

As I sit here writing, I’m staring at my left foot. Several months ago, I injured the tendons in the ball of it. I was walking in a pair of shoes that I normally wear, but something was amiss and by the time I recognized I was experiencing constant pain, the damage was done.

I thought it would heal by itself over time (silly me), but after 5 weeks of gingerly walking and limping in a variety of shoes, I made a next day appointment with a podiatrist. He showed me how to wrap it with athletic tape (something new!), and warned me that if I wasn’t careful, I would need to wear a medical walking boot (yikes!). (more…)

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Olympic Gold

Olympic Gold

Now that the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London have drawn to a close, I am still in awe at the skill and accomplishments of many of the athletes. They make difficult routines look easy as they flip and twist their bodies through the air, sail around the track or through the water. I’ve not only watched them compete, but I’ve grown closer to them through the stories and vignettes in the media about their personal lives, and often their struggles. For most, their practice and preparation consumes many hours each day. Their muscular build comes at the expense of disciplining their bodies in the gym, and their palates in the kitchen. Some come from families that are financially depleted, having put all their resources toward a son or daughter’s quest for the gold.  They train their minds to think like the champions that they strive to be; knowing that the mental competition is just as important as the physical one.

Standouts

There are several athletes that stand out for their achievements…..

Gabby Douglass, USA gold medal gymnast who two years ago at the age of 14 begged her mother to be able to move from Virginia to Iowa to train with an Olympic coach. Her mother and other siblings struggled financially to support Gabby’s passion.

Michael Phelps, USA gold medal swimmer who with 22 gold medals has now won more than many countries.


Usain Bolt, Jamaican gold medal sprinter dubbed the fastest man on earth.

Claressa Shields, USA gold medal boxer at age 17, who survived the roughest neighborhoods of economically depressed Flint, MI, a father in jail for 7 years of her young life, and was bounced from home to home.

Missy Franklin, USA gold medal swimmer who continues to refuse prize money and endorsement so that she can maintain her amateur status when she starts college in the fall of 2013.

Danell Leyva, USA bronze medal gymnast whose mother and step-father defected from Cuba, where they were members of the Cuban gymnastics, team to Miami.

Felix Sanchez, Dominican gold medal runner who claimed his medal in honor of his grandmother who died just before he raced in the 2008 Olympics.

Oscar Pistorius, a South African also known as the blade runner because he is the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics running on carbon-fiber blades.

At the same time, all the athletes who even qualified to go to the Olympics are exemplary in their endeavors. They represent the best in their sport, and I can only imagine the immense feeling of accomplishment for even qualifying to participate.

Your Olympic Sport

But they aren’t the only individuals competing to excel in their chosen sport.  Each of us has the opportunity to train for our own Olympic competition. We each have a challenge before us that is perfectly suited to our basic capability, yet is bigger than we can imagine, and if conquered would have an impact on many others. We’ll know our Olympic sport by the dream or desire that is deeply embedded in us. We must quiet all the chattering voices, the temporal and materialistic pulls, the temptation to do what everyone else is doing, just because everyone else is doing it.

Like the contenders in the London Olympic games, we need several key competencies…..

A Vision of what it looks like when you attain your goal.

A Plan of what you need to do to get there.

Focus to overcome the daily distractions that would try to steal our dream

Willingness to Sacrifice what you want to do, and what others are doing, for what you know that you need to do.

Perseverance to push past feeling comfortable, and become accustomed to feeling uncomfortable with what lies ahead.

Fearlessness to dare to believe that you have the capability to succeed.

None of this is easy. But as Booker T. Washington said, “Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” So now that I’ve been inspired by Olympians from around the world, I’m going to go back to my daily routine, step by step, and work toward my gold medal.

What about you?

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What Defines Your Leadership?

What Defines Your Leadership?

In the April 9, 2012 issue of Fortune magazine, an article on The 12 Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time – and What You Can Learn From Them by John A. Byrne provides a brief but insightful look at what makes these successful men tick (three women received honorable mention but didn’t make it to the top 12).I’d like to provoke your thoughts by sharing the critical success factors about the top four.

Steve Jobs – Apple– Didn’t rely on consumer research, but instead “connected the dots” about relationships between technology and life experiences.  He believed that it wasn’t consumers’ responsibility to know what they wanted, especially if they haven’t seen anything like it before.  In essence consumers are often limited by their own experiences and imagination.

Bill Gates – Microsoft– Picked smart people and put them to work on important things. Both his business partner (Paul Allen) and his successor as CEO (Steve Ballmer) fall into that category.  These are people who he bounced ideas off, and who in turn would come up with even better ideas.  Gates believes that brilliant people should work on the best and most important projects.

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Fred Smith – Fedex– Learned about logistics from his experience serving in Vietnam where he saw the importance of integrating ground and air operations to move material and equipment, and to support the troops.He also learned the importance of investing in the right first line managers to make good decisions, and to praise them publicly for their work.

Jeff Bezos – Amazon– Takes a mini-retreat every quarter. This is time for him to reflect on the past, and plan for the future.His time alone with no phones is spent web-surfing for new trends and ideas that he then writes in a memo to himself and other members of his executive team for follow-up and action. These ideas typically take on a life of their own as others add to them until something develops. (more…)

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Perseverance

Perseverance

“That can’t be done.”

“It’s impossible.”

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do.”

“You’ll have to learn to live with this.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

Hopefully these words aren’t familiar to you, but they are to too many people. They’re all words of hopelessness. They’re used when people accept failure, living with limitations, or dealing with less than God has planned for them.But here are two stories of men who displayed perseverance in the face of hopelessness.

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Failure is Not an Option

Consider the story of Sean Maloney.Sean was positioned to become the next CEO at Intel when he suffered a paralyzing stroke in 2009.According to a recent article in Fortune Magazine, Intel’s Sean Maloney: The man who couldn’t speak, Sean was a workaholic, who balanced a grueling travel schedule, with the demands of his job, his wife and children (including a newborn with health problems), and his love of extreme sports, particularly racing his scull.The stroke left him unable to talk or fully utilize the right side of his limbs. He began rowing his scull again just days after leaving the hospital, though at first he simply rowed in circles because his right arm was very weak. He was determined to prove to Andy Grove and others at Intel that he could recover and resume his normal duties, and thus began the grueling process of training the right side of his brain to control his speech, normally a function of the left side of his brain.Ten months after his stroke, he returned to work, but his speech is still “slow and robotic” as if he has to think harder about each word before he speaks.

While Sean continues to work toward regaining his full capabilities, he’s probably come farther faster than people expected that he would.Before the stroke he pushed himself and others hard, and that set the pace for him to continue that after the stroke.Sean was recently appointed as chairman of Intel’s China operations.When I finished reading this article, I was most struck by his perseverance in the face of a seemingly impossible challenge.

Bravery over Safety

Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer exhibited similar perseverance when he “saved the lives of 13 U.S. troops and 23 Afgan soldiers” in 2009 in Afghanistan.USA Today reported on Medal of Honor recipient saved 36 lives during battle. He and his team went into the Ganjgal Valley to meet with leaders of the local village, and were ambushed by Taliban insurgents. Meyer and his comrade had been assigned to remain at the mouth of the valley with several vehicles. Once they saw their colleagues being attacked they defied orders and drove into the valley in a Humvee with Meyer manning a grenade launcher in the turret.Five times they drove into the valley rescuing solders, and bringing back the bodies of those who died.Later Meyer said he fully expected to die…it was only a question of when, not if. He calls this the worst day of his life, but without his act of bravery and perseverance, many more would have died.As a result, he was recently awarded a Medal of Honor by President Obama.

Never Give Up

Maloney and Meyer exhibited perseverance when all odds were against them.They were in life or death situations, and yet possessed the attitude, drive and determination to attempt what others thought was impossible.Whether they recognized it or not, God gifted them with these traits, then developed and positioned them for their defining moments.

That level of perseverance can extend to any situation that we face. When naysayers tell us that something can’t be done, we can choose to accept their words, or to redefine our own reality. Leaders have a particular responsibility in this area, because their decisions affect not only themselves, but the team of people that they lead. Teams who think that they can accomplish the seemingly impossible achieve far more than those who assess a problem and their capabilities, and determine that they can’t.

What about you? As a leader, the perseverance that you exhibit can change the lives and the future of many people around you. Had Maloney or Meyer paused to complain “why me?”, pondered their chances of succeeding, or examined their capabilities, they could have missed a valuable leadership opportunity. Instead they repeated specific behaviors over and over again until they got the result that they desired.

Perseverance is your God given combination of:

Attitude – If you think you can, then you will.

Determination – Unwavering focus on the goal.

Repetition –Repeating productive behavior over and over and over and over again.

He freely gives us these gifts to use for the benefit of ourselves, our families, our teams, and our communities. So what are you persevering to do today, and tomorrow, and the next day?What seemingly impossible feat are you attempting to accomplish? Join hands with Christ, and be all that you can become.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.Philippians 4:23 NKJV

[God]… is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to his power that is at work within us.Ephesians 3:20 NIV

Copyright 2011 Priscilla Archangel

NKJV – New King James Version

NIV – New International Version

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