Persistence is a great human quality that allows average people to do great things. It is often the person that sticks it out that achieves big things. When your body tries to tell you that you’ve got nothing left, it’s the strong mind that can push on.
We recently visited The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, and quitting was something that was heavy on my mind. There was a point when some of our soldiers were sustaining on two tablespoons of rice twice per day. These were tough, worn out, and hard-working soldiers that were lifting, bending, building, digging, and carrying all day long. They were away from their families, very far from home, mostly young, and uncertain if they were going to live to see the next day. I wondered how they could continue pushing on… with little nutrition, probably poor sleep, friends getting injured and killed around them, and unsure what the next days or weeks would look like.
The handwritten letters that they wrote to their family members were what hit me the hardest. And there was one letter from a soldier to his three young boys, written just before Christmas. He stated that it must be confusing for them to have their father away, especially as Christmas, fighting in a war. He told them that he was fighting to stop other countries from being bullies, trying to tell their people what they could and could not do, and what they could and could not think. He compared it to bigger bullies in their neighborhood picking on smaller, weaker kids. They HAD TO BE stopped, somebody had to stop them, and that is what he was doing.
So… how do you avoid quitting? You commit to endeavors so worthy of success that quitting is not an option. You repeatedly remind yourself why you MUST succeed. When you lay your head down at the end of a grueling day, muscles fatigued, hands sore and all banged up, you think of how it will feel to finish the job. You see what your success will bring… the lives that will be improved, the people that will be positively affected, and how much better the world will be by accomplishing those goals.
If you push on, give something every ounce of energy you’ve got, there is a chance you may come up short and not succeed. But if you quit, you absolutely fail to reach your goal. Quitting means no chance of completing whatever it is you set out to do. Winston Churchill is noted as saying… “Never, never, never give up.”
I couldn’t help but think of all the times during WWII that we were close to losing. The war often hinged on small moves and strategies when we did things that were risky and came when we could have easily said we couldn’t go on. It was the desire and strength of our incredible soldiers to get up, move forward, and their refusal to quit that led to our victory.
Whatever it is you are doing and passionate about, keep going. The biggest accomplishments in life don’t come without hits, resistance, and hardship. And they come when you refuse to quit.
I had a poem that hung above my bed or desk most of my days in high school and college titled “Don’t Quit.” I’ll post the complete poem below, but one line I really love is “And you can never tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems afar, So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.”
Set big goals… commit to making them happen… and DON’T QUIT!
Don’t Quit
by Edgar A. Guest
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and debts are high,
And you want to Smile but have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out,
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup.
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown,
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.
