« MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS) | Home | Peace Symbol - Colour »
Trying
By peace | May 5, 2006
Success is achieved by those who try. Where there is nothing to lose by trying and a great deal to gain if successful, by all means try! - W. Clement Stone
In times of trial, times of challenge, or times of heartache, we can choose two courses of action: progress or regress. In such times, merely staying put is inevitably the wrong action – it is a form of capitulation. We can either choose to grasp the time, make the most of it, and grow through the experience, or we can choose to give up, call it quits, and slowly fade away.
Trying times are what serve to define us – because it’s never easier to see what a person is actually “made of” than when all around him or her is falling apart. Just like the Bible’s Job, some people choose to praise God, while others curse him. Some rise to the occasion, others fall behind. Some grow from the experience, while others give up and crawl into their shell.
When you study companies and people, you invariably find that the greatest among them are the ones that defined their soul – whether it be the soul of a person or a company – in tough times. They reinvented themselves, they found new products, they learned where their problems lay, they fixed the operational problems and troubles, and they got themselves ready for the good times to come.
People were meant to struggle, it seems. In a person who lifts weights, the weight of the barbells makes them become stronger. They grow because they challenge themselves and learn to lift the necessary weight. As a result, their muscles grow stronger, their bodies grow healthier, their outlook improves. Contrast this with the person who gives up after the first bench press. Their muscles, unchallenged, grow weaker. Their self-image gets worse, simply because they gave up. They don’t grow, they don’t become better. They just cease to persist.
So – here’s the key. In good times and bad, always remember the words of the sage: “This too will pass.” Good times will turn to bad times, Bad times will turn to good. Economic downturns will be followed by economic upticks. Booms will turn to bust, and then to boom again. There will be challenging days, and challenging months, and even challenging years. There will be times you love, and times you dislike.
In all these, one thing matters – how well you respond to the times.
As an example, seasoned stock professionals don’t buy when the stock market is close to peak. They buy when everyone else is selling, and the price is lower. They sell their stocks when times look good. They buy their stocks when others think that time is bad.
Excellent companies use downturns to retool, rethink, and retrain. Bad companies choke at the first indication of a downturn – they fire talented people, cut back on their resources, and — the standard management tool when they can’t think of anything better to do – they “reorganize.”
Excellent people use tough times to learn new things, build a new life, reexamine their priorities, form new friendships, mend old relationships, and build themselves up so they will be ready for the upturn.
One thing more – when times get a little bit tough, it’s always common for the Chicken Littles around us to run around yelling “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” See these people for what they are and don’t listen to them. The sky may not be falling, but the confusion and panic that these people spread makes it a lot easier – and a lot cheaper — for the rest of us to excel, acquire, and build for the future.
Topics: All Posts |
