MOVE: June 21, 2013

Winners are not those who never fail.....

Beginning - Earlier in the week I got to see a little spark in my daughters.  Gearing up for their annual piano recital they had mastered their solos and were now looking to put the parts of their duet (to be played with each other) together. They both were confident that they knew their parts as they had been practicing them on their own.....and then they sat down and played.......well.......I don't think Mr. Brahms meant it to sound quite like that (yikes!).  So, like any determined set of sisters would, they sat down and tried it a few more times before becoming utterly frustrated with the other and running through a roller coaster of emotions that at moments sounded like scenes from the exorcist.  After hours and hours over the next few days and a few interventions by my wife and I to keep the peace, we heard a scream......they were so close.......and finally on Tuesday evening after many times debating the merits of giving up on the other, they nervously bowed to the audience, sat down at the piano bench and played. Somehow it came together and became the music it was supposed to be.  They came back to the table, slumped into their chairs exhausted but triumphant.

Middle - One of our coaches recently mentioned that he was going to run a race.  No big deal right?....He's a seasoned athlete.  The only wrinkle was that this race was two weeks away and was 100 miles long......and although not as prepared as he'd like to be (he hadn't been training for this distance) he thought it'd be a good test......more like truly amazing feat I thought......to run for somewhere around a full day.  Later the next day I took a look at his FaceBook page hoping for an update and saw his mud-covered legs in a picture that said he was still moving forward despite a few obstacles and twists (like 12" mud).  Amazing.

End - There was a woman who had her mind set and would not be talked out of her plan.  She was going to drive her grand-kids to the zoo, and that, as they say, was that. There was only one hitch in her plan, she didn't have a driver's license.  No problem right? She didn't need to take them today......so she would just take some lessons and pass her test.....well maybe easier said than done......she had less than an 8th grade education, so written test-taking wasn't a particular talent......but she wanted to drive her grand-kids to the zoo so she had to give it a try.  So she hopped on the bus and went down to the testing center, paid her $5 to take the test, gave it a shot and.....failed.  Maybe a bit harder than she was ready for, but not impossible she thought, so not to be denied, she got some study guides, spent the evening preparing and went back the next day and gave it another shot.  Not quite there yet.  So, she did it again the next day......and the next, and the next, and the next......and it went on like that for YEARS.  Yes, she took the test nearly 1,000 times, over a 5 year period riding the bus for nearly an hour each way, paying her $5 and taking the test......then one day she finally had learned to read and understand the questions, know the correct answers and pass the test.  By now her perseverance had become so legendary that when she passed the road-test portion (which interestingly only took her a few times to pass) a local car company rewarded her effort with a new car, a congratulatory gesture to the area's most determined citizen......big enough to fit a few grand-kids. 

Determination is an amazing thing........but not an entirely natural thing.  Like most skills it is learned and can be fostered.  How important would something have to be for you to keep at it until you figured it out?  Well that depends on how skilled you are now.  Are you a 20-30 minutes of focus over a few days kind of person?  Or perhaps a 24+ hour straight kind of person?  Or maybe a several times a week for years kind of person?

I'd imagine, if you ask Joe about how he does it, he'll tell you (in far more elegant terms) something like "it's not that complicated, when it's important to you....you just do......you keep going".  But I'd also imagine that kind of perseverance is something built over a long time. If you read the story about Mrs. Cha (which can be found HERE) you'll see it is a story of working through hardship and challenge.....and if you read the qualities of those who succeed in the long term in almost any domain you'll surely read that it was the will to push through what at first seemed impossible that got them to their achievement.

Maybe it was best said by Edwin Louis Cole who is quoted as saying: "Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit".

Keep on chipping away! 

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.