Thinking of Giving Up?
23/7/2015

Have you ever given up, thrown in the towel, walked away? How did it leave you feeling? If you felt relief, hope and a sense of peace then maybe it was the right thing to do. If you flopped, heart sick and hot faced then maybe, just maybe it wasn’t. And we are really good at justifying our actions – “it wasn’t the right time”, “the market was down” or “there was too much competition”.

I was inspired yesterday by our Liz leading our Eight at Stroke in The Bumps. The Canon blasted and we began our racing start … critical to our success. On her second stroke her seat flew off and she sat, hard on the rough, gripping surface of the boat and the metal tracks where the seat wheels run. Despite the cox’ concern she rowed on and we followed, the back of the boat entirely unaware of what had happened. We pulled away from the crew behind and got within a length of the boat we were chasing. Liz retained her metronomic pace and we rowed well, indeed better than we had the night before. She refused to give in … it was not until the cox could see the agony on her face that he pulled us over. I did this myself in the Bumps two years ago and believe me it burns, I couldn’t sit down all night! Liz was devastated as she felt she’d let down the crew and yet we were all so proud of her … she committed, she prevailed and actually we had rowed well … she didn’t give up.

The learning?

1. Sometimes it’s easier to keep going when other people are depending on you – when you’re in a team. And when we work alone that energy can be missing. It’s important to find your own team. This doesn’t mean you have to start employing people, unless your business is ready for that, but you can build a team of associates who believe in you. It could be other people in your industry that you can share issues and ideas with, they could be people who will collaborate on projects with you – who are invested in your success, they could be friends and family (but they can be the source of self-limiting beliefs and indulge your negativity).

Just be wary of the people who enjoy tapping into negativity, who you consistently phone up for a shared moan. It might make you feel better to get it off your chest but it won’t move you forward. Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich says: “Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human being is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people” and advises us to “deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to think and act for yourself”.

2. Keeping going in a sporting situation, when you are struggling to breathe, tasting the blood at the back of your throat, muscles screaming in pain puts having that challenging business meeting into clear perspective!

3. The majority of people quit – sometimes it appears to be the logical thing to do. Those that succeed are in the minority and by all accounts success comes to those that persist. That doesn’t mean you flog a dead horse. If something isn’t working then take another view on it, change things to make it work for you but don’t be overcome by fear, keep on going a little bit further than is comfortable and that way, whatever happens, you will have pushed your boundaries and increased your courage quotient.

Let me know if you’d like me on your team …