#30 - Bulldog
When I was in Junior High, I was heavily involved in Taekwondo. At every test before moving on to a new belt, we had to perform a series of skills. Among these were: board breaking, form (technique demonstration), sparring, and recitation. At every test we were to recite a series of words that are the keys to success in Taekwondo and being a good family member and citizen of the U.S.A. The keys were:
Respect
Repetition
Patience
Discipline
Humility
Courtesy
Self-control
Perseverance
Integrity
Indomitable spirit
Even now, 9 or 10 years later I can recall every word without any hesitation—they are ingrained.
Billionaire businessman and now-President, Donald Trump once said, “I've seen people that are extremely brilliant and they don't have the staying power. They don’t have that never give up quality. Other than bad ideas, which are a reason for failure, the ability to never ever quit or give up is something that is very, very important for success.” The attribute that he is talking about is perseverance. The dictionary definition is “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”
Why is perseverance so important? Well, the reason it’s important is because the things we want are hard—if we only wanted things that were easy to get, we’d already have them. Being the fastest, the strongest, setting a new PR, improving as an athlete—these things are difficult and will require perseverance.
Change Your Mindset
A stark contrast between people who achieve amazing things and those who don’t is their mindset—successful people tend to believe that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to. Having a mindset that is more resilient depends on three things:
Have a Vision – You need a goal. If you don’t know what’s important to you, it will be hard to keep going when the going gets tough. Feel free to review the sections on goal setting.
Have a Game Plan – Set yourself up for success. Plan what steps you need to take to achieve the goal. Review the Advancing Daily sections on ego power, energy management, etc.
Be Courageous – French-American Author Anias Nin said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” Recognize that difficulty is only an indicator that you’re expanding your life. Review the Advancing Daily section on fear.
Set Yourself up for Success
Simply forcing yourself to place one foot in front of the other over and over will get you to the finish line of a marathon—that is perseverance. But wouldn’t it help to train, eat properly, have the right shoes, learn about pacing, etc.? Set yourself up for success with your energy management, ego power, habits, and routines. Take the steps that will make persevering easier.
Overcoming “Slumps”
A common misconception about successful people is that every day they wake up and hit homeruns all day long until they go back to bed—that’s simply not realistic. Michael Jordan famously said, “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Suffering setbacks is a normal part of the process; some days will be awesome and others will be a first-class struggle. Embrace these setbacks as a part of the process.
A slump occurs when you start to let normal setbacks get into your head. You start thinking into the future wondering, “what if I have another bad day tomorrow?!” That kind of thinking doesn’t help the process. To get out of “slump thinking,” try:
Remember that some bad days are part of the process—they’re just another step on the road to success
Take a break and do something that you enjoy and are good at for a couple hours
Think about your identity—does this success define who you are or are there more important things (God, family, etc.)?
Picture times in the past where you overcame similar blocks and then picture yourself overcoming the current block in the future
“Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” – Jack Ma