Building Your Resilience - Grant Gavin
2019-04-22
How many times have you dreamed of winning the lottery? Quick, instant money. No need to grind it out for the next five to ten years. Instant fortune.
As nice as that sounds, have you ever thought about what you would stand to lose by gaining this instant fortune?
Experience. Knowledge. Life lessons about the need for hard work, overcoming obstacles, and learning the value of long term thinking.
Yes, I understand that you want success right now. We all do. But as a human being you also need to build up your resilience.
Think back to the last time you implemented a new idea, marketing concept, personal branding campaign or even started a new business venture. How did you feel when after two months you realised that you were not seeing the results you had expected?
Did you give up? Did you start to lose interest? You wouldn't be surprised to hear that most people do.
It's the most challenging part of being a business coach. Pushing people through pain barriers and obstacles. Reminding them to keep persisting, knowing that their hard work and discipline will eventually pay off in terms of results.
It's tough grinding away day in, and day out, putting in the hours, and not seeing results. At times its soul destroying, especially when you begin to doubt yourself, your plans and your purpose. Building up your resilience to push through these early stages is key to success.
Success is not a short-term sprint, but rather, a long term marathon, and in order to reach the finish line you have to be prepared to put in the hard work over the longer term, even when it seems like nobody is even noticing what you're doing.
ometimes take longer than you initially thought, and your need for instant gratification will only kill your dreams. Nothing that is worth anything of value to you, will ever come easily, and your resilience is the most valuable lesson you can learn in the start-up phase of any new idea. Lack of resilience will cause you to give up too soon.
I've been writing a weekly Sunday Startup email for close on 18 months now. It began as an internal mail to inspire my team for the week ahead.
In the early days it was difficult to keep going. Nobody ever commented or gave me any feedback for my efforts, and for long periods it seemed like I was wasting my own time. Fortunately, I had my reasons to continue and my "why' was strong enough to prevent me from giving up. I knew I had to work on my resilience and see it through.
Persisting with the simple weekly discipline of writing this inspirational email has proven to be a hugely valuable lesson in resilience for me. Today, 18 months later, thousands of people read this email on a weekly basis. Company CEOs are forwarding my mail to their staff, and I am now starting to get consistent feedback on how its content is impacting lives.
I could have so easily given up after month two. Just like you.
Remember, your passion will not be enough if you lack the resilience needed to see you through those times when it feels like nothing is working for you. Keep going. Think long term, and have faith that your small steps, performed with discipline over a long enough period of time, will eventually pay off in terms of results.
They always do.
Good Luck.
To sign up for his Sunday Startup weekly email,
visit www.grantgavin.com