Whatever your do….Don’t give up! Don’t settle!

Thinking of quitting?  Thinking of packing it in and giving up on that goal you set for yourself?  These words of advice are for you….

Smart coach.  The way I see it, if you have a burning desire to learn to swim, then you can begin to take lessons and practice swimming or you just continue to wish you could swim.  Five years from now, only one of these paths is going to help you win the triathlon.

Good words.  Nothing wrong with patience, but the word perseverance connotes action more than the word patience.  Yes, I want the patience to wait until the storm is over, but I need the perseverance to stand on the deck and steer the boat until it is.

Ah….dreams.  Dreams captivate those who will chase them.  I’m trying to be more like the dreamer I used to be.  They have to power to drive us forward when we know we’re right and all those around us swear we’re wrong.

Too often we proclaim our situations “hopeless” before their time.  As a result we shut ourselves off from good things that may have come our way if only we had taken one more chance.  Don’t talk yourself out of the good things that could come your way just because you refuse to try again.

Dream a dream.  Take a chance.  Work hard. Hang in there.

On being right and fighting skunks

The next piece of practical wisdom comes from a variety of sources.  The more I thought about these pieces of wisdom, the more I saw them naturally leading into each other, so I decided to package them together for your enjoyment.

Be flexible….yes.  Some of my most aggravating moments in my life have been from my lack of willingness to be flexible and work with others.  I’ve also seen many people ostracize themselves from good things by being too rigid in personality or attitude.  This takes practice….I’m still practicing.

A lot of times I walk up to a problem thinking I know how to solve it….I think I understand it well and that my prescribed method will alleviate the need for any further discussion on the matter.  Anybody else ever have this problem?  It doesn’t take long to discover that you’re (also read “I’m”) not always right.  Even though my answer may be correct, it may not be the right answer for the problem at hand.  It seems the more I learn about the people and organizations around me, the more I realize that each solution will be different.  The chance to be creative and tailor-fit solutions to each situation/organization eventually gets to be part of the fun of dealing with issues.

I love this piece of advice because I know I’ve been both.  If in your efforts to be flexible and to remember that one answer doesn’t always fit every situation, you find yourself staring down an immovable object of stupidity, it’s important to remember this smart piece of advice.  Sometimes the sure victory will come at such a great cost, that you will wonder if you actually won or not….or if you even wanted to in the first place.  I’ve had some firsthand encounters with skunks; I consider myself to have won if I escape without incident.

If taken to heart, these pieces of wisdom might turn down the stress a notch.  Knowing that I don’t have to be right all the time;  that it’s ok to change course and flex to a new plan; and that just because I can win I must.  I’m feeling better already.  Thanks friends.