Persevere (Pt 7)

Persevere

Part 7 in a Seven-Part Series

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

Are you up to learning a new word? 

The word is:

Pertinacity

It means determinedly resolute 

in purpose, belief, or action.

Every great man or woman, every successful institution or business, has become great because of this one ingredient. 

Abraham Lincoln had it. 

He ran for numerous political offices, and lost. 

His fiancé died. 

He started two businesses and they both failed. 

And finally in 1860 he was elected the 16^th President of the United States. 

He had perseverance.

Cynthia Kersey tells the story of a man who wanted to be a lawyer so badly that he finally succeeded – after taking the bar exam forty-eight times. 

Forty-Eight Times! 

That is unbelievable. 

Yet he persevered.

He spent $50,000 in testing fees and 144 days in testing rooms, and he passed the bar exam.  AMAZING!

Jim Carey now has a well-established comedic career.  He is a film star and is considered one of the comedy greats.  But his early days were less than funny.  He practiced in front of a mirror, with a hair brush in hand as a prop microphone.  He listened, read, studied, practiced and became The Jim Carey that we all know about today. 

During the beginning days of his professional life he was a warm-up act for the bigger names in Vegas.  One night, when a big-time performer fell ill, Jim convinced the stage manager to let him go on in the limelight and that one moment in time launched him into the big time.  But he prepared for that one moment all his life. 

He persevered. 

J.K. Rowling is now worth $15 billion dollars, yet in 1995 her first novel was turned down by twelve publishers before Bloomsbury finally decided to take a chance on her.  However, they encouraged her to take a day job.  You might recognize her name from the Harry Potter books. 

She persevered.

--Walt Disney was once fired because he “didn’t have any good ideas.”

--Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade, yet became the Prime Minister of England.

--Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four and he didn’t leard to read until age seven, yet he is famous for the theory of relativity. 

What is perseverance? 

It is …

Determination

Focus

Pursuing a dream

Never giving up

Taking the alternate route when the main highway is closed

Perseverance is following one's dream to the end.

This quote still rings true. 

“The arrow that hits

 the bulls eye

is the result of

100 misses.” 

It’s perseverance that counts. 

Aim

               Fire

                               Miss

Correct, check, double check,

Fire again. 

PERSEVERE

Seek Creative Solutions

Seek Creative Solutions

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 6 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

In the movie Apollo Thirteen the three astronauts are forced to gather into the lunar landing craft for most of their journey back to earth once the mission was declared aborted.  Facing multiple crises, one of their more creative moments came when they were on the verge of putting back into their space craft more poisonous carbon dioxide than their current filtration system could handle.

The creative solution was that they had to fashion an air filter out of the available materials at hand, which included duct tape, the cover from a flight manual, plastic, a hose from a space suite and a few other odds and ends found within arm’s reach.

What they ended up creating was less than adorable.  It was crude and ugly, but it did the trick by filtered their expelled air and gave them a fighting chance to get back to earth safely. 

It’s called creative problem solving.  Most of us perform this every day of our lives in some form or fashion. 

Problems crop up out of the blue in the course of our everyday lives and often it is up to our abilities to perform the seemingly heroic and unusual that makes it a matter of life and death. 

Unstoppable people down through the ages have mastered the art of creative problem solving.  There are a hundred ways to find creative solutions.

Here are just a few ideas that have become favorites for many people.

Think outside the box:  Avoid the tried and true and find different ways of doing and saying the same thing.

Paint outside the lines:  It’s good to follow orders and well-established guidelines, but sometimes we have to go beyond the normal way of thinking and doing.  I love to create as I go sometimes, and I have had good success in this.

Go where no man has gone before:  Be an explorer.  Chart new territory.  Adventures can be fun.

Try the impossible:  It is only impossible because no one has ever done it before.  Want to be the first to break new ground?  Go for the new, the novel, and the untried.

Look at it up-side-down:  Sometimes all it takes is to look at a problem from a different perspective.  Try standing on the other side of the table.  Your game of chess will look entirely different to you from over there.  And you just might discover some moves you would never have considered otherwise.

Write it backwards:  Yet another way of looking at the problem.  It’s not going backwards to write it backwards.  It just might get you unstuck. 

Write down every possible combination:  Some call this “doing a mind dump”.  I love this method because I can get all of my ideas on paper which helps keep my mind free to chase other ideas.  Then comes the fun task of forming all sorts of connections, combinations and strings of ideas until the perfect ones come to the top and there you’ll find your solutions. 

I wish you much success in your pursuit of your creative solutions.  Remember what Steve Jobs once said? 

Now THAT is creative problem solving!

Next week our topic will be Perseverance - The stuff champions are made of. 

Ask for Help

Ask for Help

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 5 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France has made a huge impression on me.  In 1996 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain.  That would stop most normal people, but not Lance.

He sought the treatment and surgeries needed and in 1999 won his first of seven consecutive Tour de France races. 

Notice I said he “sought” help. 

In his bicycle racing career he was famous for Team Lance which included his own chef, other teammates with whom he coordinated their racing efforts, bicycle maintenance crews, spotters, and others who were all there for one purpose – to help Lance Armstrong win. 

He asked for help!

Betty Ford knew something about teamwork.  She once said – “You can make it, but it’s easier if you don’t have to do it alone.”

Sometimes you just have to say the words – “Will you help me?”

You will be amazed at the people who will step up to the plate on your behalf. 

My wife got her BS degree in Sociology in 2010, many years after raising her three grown kids.  Along the way she needed help with algebra.  She had to take it three times and finally was successful in passing it, but she had to ask for help.  Between our son-n-law Erich and some tutoring sessions at school she made the grade. 

She had to ask for help. 

I have a book idea that is burning on my mind, and I have formed a Beta test group to read select chapters and give me feedback.  I had to ask each person to be a part of that group. 

You might be amazed at the people you already know who are standing in the wings just waiting to help you with your plans and projects, yet they have never been asked. 

ASK!

This message today is simple.  ASK!

The second part of this thought is to BUILD A SUPPORT TEAM. 

I have already mentioned that I have a Beta test group of individuals who have read select chapters of my book.  They all stand ready to read other chapters as I am ready.  They are my key support team on this project. 

When it comes time to publish my book, I have offers from three others who will help me make contact with the right agents and publishers to take me to the next step.  Their offer is simply, “when you are ready I’ll do what I can to get you in front of the right people.”

That is help of an amazing kind.  And you can have it too.  Just ask.

So now you have Step 5 in the Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People.

Ask for help and build a support team.

Prepare for Challenges

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 4 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

Life happens.  We plan, we prepare, we dream, we move in the direction of our goals, and BAM, along comes a challenge. 

Big or small, challenges happen. 

Our topic this week is preparing for challenges. 

How does one prepare for challenges?

Maury Wills, famous short stop and base stealer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was not The Maury Wills in his early days.  He couldn’t hit, he was afraid of the curve ball and these challenges kept him in the minor leagues for over eight years. 

He realized that his dreams of playing in the big league were destined for failure unless he addressed his challenges and overcame them.  And that’s what he did.  He sought help from coaches, he put in extra practice time and he became a world-class player.  He faced his challenges and conquered them.

Wilma Rudolph was nothing but a wanna-be small black girl wearing braces in the late forties.  She saw other girls running and jumping and she longed to join them in these fun times.  Yet she wore heavy, cumbersome braces on her legs.

Against her Mother’s orders, she began taking her braces off around the house and learned to walk as best as she could.  Soon she was walking and running with ease.

In time she tried out for sports and was noticed for her quick speed in running Before long she was invited to train for the Tennessee Tiger Bells track team.  In 1956 she got her bid for the Summer Olympics.  Even though she won a bronze medal, she vowed that she would do better next time.

When the 1960 Olympics came along, Wilma found herself standing on the winner’s podium in Rome and received three gold medals.

She faced challenge after challenge and overcame them.

Wow!  What a concept - overcoming challenges.

Remember Apollo 13 and its mission to the moon?  That was one of the most problem-plagued space missions NASA has ever faced, yet they overcome every challenge and successfully brought home those three astronauts. 

How does one prepare for a challenge?

You analyze, you plan for contingencies, and you find ways around, over and through the mountains you face. 

And in the case of Apollo 13, you use the materials at hand to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.  You really do need to watch the movie again to see what I mean. 

I am experiencing this in my own life at the moment.  My medical reports are not as good as I desire.  My high blood pressure and high blood sugar numbers need to be brought under control.

I am determined to live a more quality life and for me this means several things

--First, I now make exercise a prominent part of my day. 

--Second, I monitor my numbers so that I know every day, morning and night where I am and where I need to be.

--Third, I am proactive in evaluating every bite of food that I consume. 

Is it working?  You better believe it is.  My goal is to be off all meds and lead a healthy and long life.  I want my blood sugar numbers below 100 and my blood pressure at 120/80, 

I have a challenge and I’m meeting it head on. 

What is your challenge?  What are you doing about it?

Challenges can be managed and overcome.

Go, meet your challenge.  Be an overcomer.

Believe In Yourself (Part III)

Believe in Yourself

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 3 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

Earl Nightingale said it in his multi-million-selling recording.  The Bible promotes it.  Every well-known and novice speaker and writer who seeks to enrich people’s lives promotes this concept.

What is the concept you ask?

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

“You become what you think about. “

And there are dozens and hundreds of other ways to say this. 

I’ve heard this concept perhaps ten-thousand times in my lifetime, yet for many years I rushed by it without much deeper thinking and contemplation on the subject. 

You see, I “thought” I believed in “me” yet there were some deeper issues residing inside of my mind that I had to come to grips with in order to set myself free and really allow this concept to sink down deep inside of me.

But it all comes back down to the question of “Do You Believe in You?”

During my growing up years I lived under a stern discipline-minded father.  His word was the law and I dared not step outside the boundaries he established. 

Along the way I allowed my own image of myself to diminish and be ground down.  Oh, I put on a good face for the world, yet I practiced a hollow philosophy of true heart-felt belief in myself.

One fine day along came a phrase that I grabbed onto and it has changed my life. 

The phrase?

I APPROVE OF MYSELF!

For too many years I sought approval from family, co-workers, church members, and everyone else and never accepted me and my goodness and talent pool.  I always deferred to others and their will and way because I felt I had nothing much to contribute. 

The irony of this story is that in my professional life I had some pretty amazing measures of success along the way.  I performed well, people liked me, I could plan and organize events and productions with amazing skill apparently, yet there was this hollow and emptiness inside that I never addressed. 

When I read those four words – I APPROVE OF MYSELF – it was as if blinders fell from my eyes.  I saw with such clarity the damage I had been enduring at my own hand, or rather my inner voice, and from that day forward I have been walking upward and out of the mental hole I had created for myself. 

This is a bit painful for me to reveal in such detail, yet I feel it is such an important concept and I am certain others have struggled in the same way. 

Let me be quick to point out that I am not promoting a philosophy of haughtiness, self-sufficiency or trying to come across in a braggadocios way. 

I am simply relating something that happened deep inside of me and it was a freeing moment when I finally acknowledge that I approved of myself.

I always felt I was …

Too fat

Too bald

Too awkward

Too shy

Too noisy

Too impulsive

Too showy

Too obnoxious

I have a unique gait to my walking and often I’ve been made fun of for that.  Even though I would laugh it off with my friends, I internalized those jokes as something bad and not worthy of approval.

Do you see how these kinds of self—condemning thoughts can do a person in?

The day you begin to believe in your innate goodness is the day you take your first steps toward living a freer, more fulfilling and more sound life. 

Brian Tracy, speaker and writer is famous for saying “I like myself.  I really do like myself.”

That is good and wholesome. 

After all, you and I are unique individuals.  Never has this world seen an exact replica of us, nor will it ever see one after we are gone.  We are created with certain unique abilities and talents and our creator expects us to use all that is within us to design the best life of which we are capable. 

I don’t know if my mantra is the perfect one for you, but I do know that at some point in your life you must accept who you are, what you are and realize that you are all you need to be.  Sure, keep learning, keep reading, keep becoming better, but realize you are you.  You are made as you should be. 

It’s up to you to decide what you are going to do with you.

My advice? 

Believe in You. 

That is what unstoppable people do. 

Believe in you!

Only you can become the best you this world has ever seen.

What Is Your Passion? Part 2

What Is Your Passion?

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 2 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

Why do you do what you do?  Is it passion?  Is it just because nothing else came along? 

One of the best definitions I found for passion when researching this article is this:  “a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object or concept.”

Passion is the fire that burns deeply inside and fuels the emotions, creativity and will toward success. 

Marshall Foch says this about passion:  “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”  

Where passion burns, a way will be found. 

I want to write to encourage and inspire others.  I will write books, articles, speeches, blogs and single sentence thoughts in pursuit of this drive of mine.

Someday I will write the blog heard round the world.  I’m already being read in some faraway places like Russia, Afghanistan, England, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, India, Brazil, Indonesia and other such places. 

My passion is to offer hope, encouragement and inspiration one word at a time to mankind. 

Passion sometimes is scary.  Robyn Allan says “many of us are afraid to follow our passions, to pursue what we want most because it means taking risks and even facing failure.  But to pursue your passion with all your heart and soul is success in itself.  The greatest failure is to have never really tried.”

Passion sweeps one off their feet.  Now that is some strong something. 

When is the last time you were swept off your feet? 

So, what is your passion?  You have to figure that one out for yourself.  Assessment tests, personality profiles and other such tests can point you in a certain direction but to find the perfect focus for your energies?  Look inside of you. 

Where do your private thoughts take you?  When you are alone, what thoughts are on your mind more than any other? 

Look within to see what makes your heart beat faster and discover the passion for your life.

What Is Your True Purpose? Part 1

What Is Your True Purpose?

Seven Characteristics of Unstoppable People

Part 1 in a Seven-Part Series

Based on ideas from the book Unstoppable by Cynthia Kersey

One of my favorite quotes on focus and purpose is this:  “Define your mission!  Define your mission and stick to it.”

I found this in Winds of War by Herman Wouk.  In this book, Mr. Wouk recounts a scene in which General E. J. Tillet, military author and one of the Commanding Generals for England during WWII, is speaking to the main character named Pug Henry.  Tillet is making an observation about Herman Goring that is applicable to our topic.  He said this about Goring,

“He’s wasted a whole bloody month bombing harbors and pottering about after convoys.  He’s only got till September the fifteenth.  His mission is mastery of the air, not blockade.  Define your mission!  Define your mission and stick to it!” 

Question:  What is your mission?  What is your purpose for whatever it is that you are doing with your life and want to do with your life?

Missions are great.  They help point the way.  They help define who we are, and they need defining.

I have known for years that I am a people person and I love to encourage individuals and groups.  But I kept falling a bit short of what all of that meant.  After reading Acres of Diamonds by Russell Conwell for the tenth time it finally hit me what my defining mission in life is and I gained a new focus with a more defined aim than ever before. 

“What is my purpose” you might ask?

My mission, my focus, my aim in life is to offer hope, encouragement and inspiration one word at a time.  I am doing this in my writing, speaking and the living of my life. 

Often when spending time on Facebook I will catch a peek at something one of my friends is in pursuit of and dash off a note of encouragement to them in as they follow their dreams. 

That is what I do best – I encourage people.

With every person I meet, I picture them wearing an invisible sign around their neck that says “MAKE ME FEEL IMPORTANT.”  

How can I assist you in defining your true purpose?  What questions can I pose that will prompt your thinking along these lines.  After all, these are the very thoughts that unstoppable people use.

Are you unstoppable? 

Here are a few thought questions to guide us in this pursuit of defining our purposes.

-What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

-Without regard to income, what would you do to make a difference somewhere in this world?

-Do people energize you, or do you recharge your batteries in solitude?

-Do you like research or do you like telling the world after the research is finished?

-Would you rather write music or perform it?

Cynthia says “anyone … can achieve their goals and overcome any obstacle, if only they will commit themselves to doing so.”

So, define your mission, and stick to it. 

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  

Live the life you’ve imagined.”  

Henry David Thoreau