02 Feb 1 Thing Stands Between Success and Quitting

There is one thing that stands in between success and quitting that will determine if you will even bother achieving your goal.

Imagine you’re standing at the beginning of a hiking trail. Before you start, you determine that it’s a good idea to go for a hike, but here you stand and you know that once you start you really have 2 options. Go to the end, then turn around and come back; or stop in the middle and do the same.

Imagine that the trail you are about to take is 3 miles long. If you go to the end and back it will be 6 miles of hiking. That’s an easy decision.

Now imagine that instead of 3 miles long, the trail is 10 miles long. What’s the difference in your decision making process?

Or perhaps it’s a 20 mile trail or a 200 mile trail. The further the trail the easier it is to decide not to go to the end. Instead you will go as far as you want to go then quit.

LET’S ADD 1 MORE THING…. At the other end of that trail is $100 Million Dollars.

All of the sudden, the distance is inconsequential. Yes 200 miles will be the test of your lifetime, but when you get to the end you could pay personal trainers to massage every part of your aching body for the next year! 🙂

So what is the 1 thing that determines wether you will succeed or fall short?

VALUE

It’s simply the value that you will gain from the activity.

If in our case you’re only value will be, now you now know that you can complete the distance, then there is a certain value in that. It might, however, not be strong enough to keep you from quitting.

In fact the only reason many people keep going to work at a job that they HATE is because of the value that it brings to their lives. Once the value is less than the fear of quitting and finding something else, then the person does exactly that.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME?

I was training for my next triathlon and in the middle of a 1500 meter swim I realized that the value of this exercise is so that I will be successful at race day. I determined that the reason I keep swimming and complete the distance is because I feel good when I’m done. I gain something from pushing myself to a point of exhaustion and beyond. In fact, if I kept training then swimming that distance would become easier and easier. But there’s more…

I realized that I had developed a CORE VALUE for my exercise and it has nothing to do with placing 754th at my SuperSeal race.

I remembered that the goal that I’ve set is merely to create a journey to take, and that I’m moving towards my goal with one thing in mind…

My wife and kids.

Often times I’ve seen in movies and heard from friends that they work hard so their kids can have the things that they didn’t have growing up. The funny thing is, if you ask a child whose parents work a lot what they want more than anything else in the world. Their answer will be, “I want my Daddy around” or my “Mommy to take me to the park”, or something like that.

SO, when I say that my wife and kids are my core value it’s because I realize that there is value in them watching me do well. It’s great for them to cheer for me and see me finish something challenging that I set as a goal.

BUT, they don’t want to see me do it at the expense of snuggling on the couch before bed or taking them to soccer practice or helping with school projects.

My core values are to give an example of what it means to work hard at something and still not lose sight of what matters most; to live each day with the intention of enjoying every moment of it (even the stuff i have to do); and to get to the end of my life full of love, joy, and passion.

WHAT’S your core value?

Do you hold that value in mind when you are fighting for success. When you are at the moment of giving up or quitting, does it come to mind?

When you feel like there is nothing left in you to push on with, can you keep going anyway?

If the answer is no then you have not found your value. You have not discovered your pearl of great price.

Sometimes stopping, or quitting or turning around is the smart thing to do. Sometimes taking a different path is the right thing to do. Sometimes, simply recognizing that the journey you are on will not get you what you value most is enough to make a change.

Whatever dream you are chasing, find the value of completion that is so strong that quitting is not an option. Once you have removed all excuses and distractions and can nots and will nots and would nots then, you WILL succeed.

Share

Facebook

Google

Twitter

Linkedin