Potential, Ability, or Grit?

Over time, grit is what separates
fruitful lives from aimlessness.
John Ortberg
I decided that potential means naught, unless there is grit to back it up. Ability means little, unless grit is its’ companion. In the poem, The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer there are a number of lines that speak to me of grit,
“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.”
To me this is grit. I like people with grit. I love working with people with grit. Life is full of people with potential and ability but people with grit are rare gems. Give me grit over potential or ability any day.
How do I know someone has grit? They show up, consistently for others, and themselves. They reciprocate. They follow through. They stay the course even when the course gets tough. They don’t give up when obstacles get in the way. People are more important than things. They have passion that comes from a life of personal growth, mastery, and depth of heart and soul.
How about you, where do you need to reach deep, and find the grit within you to create the life you want, to be the person you need to be to achieve it?
GRRRRRRRRRit!
GRRRRRRRRRit!

 

Stop Toe Dipping, Take the Plunge!

One hot AZ morning this week the beautiful blue pool was calling to me. As I sat on the edge of the pool and did some toe dipping the water felt cool and refreshing. The water felt great on my feet, ankles, and calves yet the rest of me baked in the sun. So another step deeper was needed, and “Oh,” it was a bit cooler but within less than a minute it felt good as my knees bobbed just below the surface, and my legs quickly adjusted to the new temperature. Despite the heat I was hesitant to take the next step. This step was much deeper, over my waist. “Did I want to cool off that badly?” “Maybe I should get out now!” Although that seemed a bit foolish since the sun was hot, and the pool refreshing, and well, I was half in all ready. I mean didn’t that defeat the idea of cooling off in the pool getting out while still half baked? And who knew how many chances I would get to enjoy this pool. So I took the plunge and for a moment I did regret taking that next step, “Oh, it was cold!” Yet the strangest thing happened. In a few moments I adjusted to it. Wow! Interesting! Next I decided to do some edge testing so I began to wade slowly toward the deep end, but that became almost torturous, so I decided to take the plunge. I held my breath and dropped to the bottom, and “Ah,” it was cold, but I survived, and well, you guessed it, in a few seconds I was refreshed! The water felt great! Viola, I had created a refreshing reality!

As I noted my approach to adapting to the temperature of the pool I observed the similarities with life. Each step into the refreshing pool created a challenge, a decision, to go back, stay put, or move forward. Each moved forward required facing the uncomfortable certainty of change, the adaptation to the change, and the joy of having reached this new place. The toe dipping, and knee bobbing were easy, and fun but as I moved toward the moment of totally being cooled and refreshed the biggest challenge came as I grew closest to realizing my momentary vision of being refreshed because the edge testing became torturous, and I had to choose, once and for all to take the plunge, or back away from the dream of that cool refreshing water.

Consider your life, your relationships, your work, your children, your education, your dreams, where are you toe dipping, knee bobbing, half baked, or edge testing? Where are you ready to take the plunge?