It occurred to me only recently during a set of in-the-present trials something that separates the champions of life from the also-rans. Champions never give up. They don’t know when to quit and they simply bounce back time and again. These people don’t always achieve the fame and fortune they set out for--‘luck’ or fortune is an important determinant--but they do place themselves in the position of most-likely-favoured.
“When you come to a fork in the road... take it.” –Yogi Berra.[1]
Champion people, people of resilient heart, have a habit of never submitting. They meet a fork in the road and they take it; whatever they choose--the point is they make a choice straight away, when so often the trick is not which way to go, but to just keep going.
We’ve all had opportunities at this. Only recently I had travelled hours to go to an important workshop, meeting one travel deadline after another. I suddenly realised, as the workshop was scheduled to start that I had read the address wrong. I was at 317 Murray Street and not 712 Murray Street--I had incongruously walked all the way from the 700s; now I was several blocks away and going to be significantly late.
Now, in this moment, I was at a fork in the road. I had the option of either quitting or keeping going. If I quit I wouldn’t have lost much probably--perhaps some learning. I could have said, ‘Hang this, I’m going for coffee.’ No sweat... or so it seems.
It took more effort to not quit, and to keep going. I was already under strain; to keep going meant more strain, more adrenalin, more hassle.
Then, without prompting, I suddenly asked myself, ‘What’s the cost here?’ And also, ‘What’s the learning (or benefit)?’ The cost was only a little more strain and to be fifteen minutes late. The benefit was I would still reap much of the learning. But that was not all.
The biggest plus was, by not quitting, I was learning about myself. I felt like a loser momentarily when I discovered serendipitously but hopelessly that I’d travelled so far unnecessarily.
Looking at this same situation from a different mindset, in a different mood, it’s just research. We can so easily be duped into thinking we’re failures, when in reality our failures are just research. That’s all.
When you meet a fork in the road, take it. At the next fork take that, and so on. Get the picture? Yogi Berra says, “No matter what decision you make--taking a job, getting married, buying a house, whatever it is--you shouldn’t look back. Trust your instincts.”[2]
Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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