It’s time to be a donkey.
You and I need to become a donkey that approaches his or her commitments with unwavering stubbornness, persistence, and unbelievable tenacity.
That’s exactly what it will take to get there.
That is the cost.
Nothing less and nothing more.
Stubborn commitment.
Without the stubbornness of an Eeyore, it becomes evidently clear that nothing will ever happen. Without tenacity and persistence, meaningful change cannot take place.
We are very good at pretending and playing dress up. We have done it as children and continued the practice as adults. We tell anyone and everyone who will listen about all the great things that are about to swing our way, but deep down, we don’t really intend to expand the effort and absorb cost.
We will not swing. We will watch the third strike pass us by.
We all fantasise about our future and how nice it will be, how it will look and feel, taste and smell, but unfortunately, our tentative and fragile commitments, always produce delicate results.
They are easy broken.
We cannot change our lives because of sudden flights of fancy.
We have a responsibility to ourselves and those we hold dear to analyze the cost. To reach the right conclusions. To weigh the possibilities and accept the risk of failure. We also need to leap forward.
We must make that leap forward with unbound stubbornness. We must work with tremendous persistence and focus. We must never out think or second guess our original decision. We must push ourselves to the end. Win or lose.
You can always do something about what didn’t work. There is always a scientific or socio-economical reason, why something didn’t work. You failed because your work sucked, or you found yourself in front of the wrong person or the wrong investor. It was the right idea to lose some weight, but it came in the middle of a vacation or a long road trip. It was simply the wrong time.
You don’t control success or failure, but you do control effort.
If you don’t invest. If you don’t take calculated risks. If you don’t put in the work. Win or lose, you will never reap the benefits of winning or regroup in defeat.
Many people think they are losers. They feel defeated, but they haven’t even started.
They are apathetic. They are stagnant.
They imagine themselves to have big bones, or an uncontrolled ravenous appetite. They don’t have the right education. They lack important contacts. They are either too young or too old. Too tired, or not quite ready. They live in the wrong part of town. They married the wrong person. Their kids take up all their time. They lack the necessary energy. They have too many vices and too many terrible destructive habits.
In the end, they fall to their knees and beg for an angel of mercy to come and rescue them.
They resolve to do nothing.
They accept failure without effort.
There is nothing wrong with them. They are on the other side of stubbornness. The side that keeps you static and frozen in fear. The stubbornness that has you chained up in a cave, staring at shadows on a wall.
I hope you spend some time contemplating your dreams. Everyone has them. At any age. At any time.
I hope you take the time to map out a plan how to get there.
I hope that once you do, you start digging your ditch, without checking the weather forcast. I hope your muscles ache. Your brain gets tired. That your pores flood your skin with sweat.
I hope you fail.
I hope you fail often.
With failure comes the comfort of knowing, that success is only a push in a different direction.
