Don’t Quit – Stay the Course

Tips for Living Bright 05/14: STAY THE COURSE

Feeling stuck or frustrated with your goals?

I get it. I am very familiar with that feeling of TRYING and TRYING, yet feeling like you’re getting nowhere. It happens to everyone. The difference between failure and success lies in the perseverance.

I remember when I was first looking for a job right out of college. As I’ve written in one of my postings, How My Life Perspective Changed at a Gas Station, this was in the middle of the Gulf War when I lived in an extremely military-saturated area.  After receiving rejection letter after rejection letter, I broke down and cried to my mother in frustration.

“I GIVE UP,” I told my mom. I can still remember how down and dejected I felt.

I also remember her response. It came in the form of a poem, one that proved to be true . . .

DON’T QUIT

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

≈
Life is queer with its twists and turns,As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow;
You may succeed with another blow.
≈ Often the goal is nearer thanit seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
≈ Success is failure turned inside out –The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

– Anonymous

 

More than ever, during this uncertain time, this poem rings so true!

The HAPPY ENDING to my job-search story is that WITHIN DAYS (I kid you not!) I was offered a job in another city.

You see, during my job search, I analyzed and tweaked my efforts along the way (it is important to analyze your efforts to see if there are things you can be doing to make your goal more obtainable). I had realized that my lack of real-work experience as a college graduate was not helping my case, so I got an internship WORKING FOR FREE. It was that internship that got me noticed.

The important thing is that you DO NOT QUIT.

As the poem states, “… you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar.”   

Your opportunity could be LITERALLY right around the corner. If you quit, however, you will never know the success that is waiting.

Are you a competitive person?  YES.

Are you a quitter? NOPE.

Your goal is simply a challenge.

And as they say (WE SAY) . . . CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

WE WILL ACHIEVE.