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!

 

I CAN, I COULD, I DID!

“I-think-I-can” these words were made famous in a story that first appeared in print with the title The Little Engine That Could, 1920. The story has gone through multiple versions but the gist of the tale is about a long train that must be pulled over a high mountain. Larger engines are asked to pull the train but refuse for various reasons. The request is then sent to a small engine, who agrees to try. The engine succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating, “I-think-I-can”, overcoming a seemingly impossible task. As the little engine nears the top of the grade that had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.” It reached the top by drawing on determination and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”
The little engine “DID” succeed in its’ mission to pull the train up the grade and down the other side. Positive thinking was clearly involved in the little engine’s success but also action, determination, and grit contributed to the little engine’s final result. He declared “I can”, then took action by pulling the train up the grade, as he neared the hard part he did not give up even though it was getting harder and harder, he slowed down but kept going still repeating, “I think I can.” Repeating the positive self talk.
How often do we not even move to action? How often do we stop ourselves before we try? How often do we quit at the first sign of difficulty? How often do we try to hurry it up and just get through it when what we need to do is slow down, and keep going?
Maysoon Zayid was raised with a “can do” family motto so the fact that she has cerebral palsy along with 99 other problems has not stopped her from being on stage and bringing fun and joy to the world. The next time you are tempted to say “I can’t” think of Maysoon.
Maysoon, Cerebral Palsy is only 1 of her 99 problems.
Maysoon, Cerebral Palsy is only 1 of her 99 problems.

 

Out of the Box

Creative thinking – in terms of idea creativity – is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.
Edward de Bono


To have the life you want you will need to think creatively. Creative thinking is a skill that can be learned. Thinking creatively requires looking beyond your normal thinking. Out of the box thinking requires making novel combinations, metaphors, analogies, taking on a different world view, make unique connections, disconnect typical connections, make reversals, do the opposite, view it from a different angle, look for the exceptions, the accidental, look for what you were not looking for, write everything down without judgment, elaborate on every idea, allow your subconscious to work. Then create the life you want.