Coaching Yourself COURAGEOUSLY – Empowering Your “Never Give Up” Spirit

“When everything seems to be against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

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“Never Give Up” Spirit

Take a minute and just imagine for a few seconds. Think of a person you know who exemplifies strength and courage despite their circumstances.

Now that you have that person in mind, what are some of the qualities or character traits they possess?

When I think of people who have endured tremendous difficulties, some traits that come to mind are that these people:

• Persevere in the face of adversity
• Cling to hope despite their feelings or circumstances
• Exercise patience when the odds are against them

Because of Covid19, life as we knew it doesn’t exist. I think it’s safe to say that everyone has experienced loss. Some have lost loved ones, millions have lost jobs, life-savings, and all of us have lost a sense of independence; to come and go as we please.

The Power of Focus

Despite these losses, there is one thing we cannot afford to lose; we must never lose heart. If we focus on our losses, we will fall into discouragement or apathy and run the risk of giving up.

However, if we focus on what we can control; choosing the traits we want to build, we overcome and soar above this crisis; we own it, rather than it owning us.

Coaching Yourself Courageously

In this blog post, I am going to share 3 pillars for you to focus on so that you will be empowered to build a “Never Give Up Spirit” and coach yourself courageously.

The 3 Pillars:

• Perseverance
• Hope
• Patience

Perseverance

Learning how to overcome the difficulties we encounter in life has always been a necessary life-skill; but think about it, how much more is it needed during uncertain times?

Developing perseverance is not as daunting as it may seem. There is a master key you can use to help you be a person who perseveres. That key is to think in terms of possibilities rather than limitations.

When you focus on what is possible, you see opportunities rather than obstacles. The world is like an open book inviting you to jump in and write your story. This is in stark contrast to your mind being a closed book; having a fixed and limited mindset.

Possibility thinking allows you to focus on the positive things available to you instead of giving so much weight and power to the negative circumstances in your life. This magnifies what is good and minimizes what is negative.

Developing a possibility mindset, allows you to more readily see and seize opportunities in crisis; instead of constantly running into dead ends.

This is how you grow in perseverance.

Hope

Hope is an anchor to your soul that allows you to be an overcomer. Many people confuse hoping with wishing but they are not the same at all. Hope is a much stronger force.

Wishing is a desire for something that is unlikely to happen whereas hope is an actual belief that things will change; that things will get better.

Hope is more powerful than any self-help book, any medication, or anything you can muster up in your mind. Hope saves us all from falling into the pit of despair and is vital to our survival.

How do you hold on to hope?

According to Dr. Dale Archer, hope is the difference between psychological victims and psychological survivors.

In his work with victims of both Hurricane Katrina and Rita, he saw the power of hope in the psychological survivors. The psychological survivors were active, optimistic, and looked forward to the future.

In contrast, the psychological victims were passive, pessimistic and focused heavily on the past.

Hope allows you to be active in finding your own solutions, staying optimistic concerning your circumstances, and eagerly planning for the future; despite what you feel or see.

Patience

Contrary to what many believe, patience is an active powerful force; not a passive meek trait reserved for the non-hustler culture. We must learn patience to persevere during trials or we won’t develop a “never give up” spirit.

“Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is ‘timing’ it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.” – Bishop Fulton J Sheen

Sadly, our modern-day society is not conducive to teaching us patience. We think patience is synonymous with waiting. We believe that patience is not getting easily agitated in traffic jams, waiting in long lines for our drive-through latte, or having to wait on an internet that is operating too slowly.

Patience is a much deeper virtue than just waiting for something. Patience is a quality of life and a virtue of endurance.  It is a calm demeanor in times of adversity which becomes a superpower we possess.

“Patience, not haste, holds the power to embolden you to finish the race.” – Rita Hudgens

It is patience that allows us to have a solid plan in place and to achieve things we would otherwise give up on.

Patience comes with tremendous benefits:

• Patience helps our decision making processes saving us from poor decisions with long-term consequences.
• Since a calm mind is not easily agitated, patience reduces our stress levels.
• Patience cultivates healthier relationships where we are likely to constantly have knee-jerk reactions; responding instead in kindness.

To nurture patience, slow down enough to take a lesson from nature. If you want to reap an abundant harvest in any area of your life, you must first take time to sow seeds. Once you understand this concept, you will quickly realize that seeds do not grow overnight.

This will help you grow in appreciation for the process.

Always remember that anything worthwhile cannot be attained overnight.

The Lesson of the Quadricycle

In 1886 there was a young 23 year-old unknown apprentice who had high aspirations and dreams.  He invented the quadricycle.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of the quadricycle, not many people have. The quadricycle was the first automobile invented but it wasn’t fit for mass-production so it didn’t survive; it was deemed a failure.

After the quadricycle failed, the young apprentice was able to bounce back from this setback and opened up his first automobile company; The Detroit Automobile Company. Unfortunately, this business adventure was short-lived. His financial backers and board of directors dissolved and disbanded the company; it was deemed a failure.

Failure after Failure

Years passed and the inventor continued to experience more disappointments. Despite failure after failure, he did not give up. Looking for unconventional financial backers, eventually, he found a financial investor and appointed a Vice-President to his new company; The Ford Motor Company.

The Model A’s were the first batch of cars manufactured by The Ford Motor Company. These automobiles were far from perfect. The Ford Motor Company had to have mechanics in every city and on every corner to fix the countless problems the Model A presented.

But…the inventor never gave up.

The Ford mechanics came back to the factory with essential feedback concerning the Model A’s. The Ford Company was able to learn and make adjustments to the Model A.

After 5 years and numerous failures, the young apprentice, who we know as Henry Ford, built the first affordable automobile that made car travel available to middle-class Americans; the Model T.

Because Henry Ford embraced a “never give up” spirit , he was not only at the forefront of the automobile industry, he also helped establish Detroit as one of the wealthiest cities in America.

“Failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

As I am writing this, quarantines are in the process of being lifted in some states, life around the world will need to be rebuilt, make sure you are prepared with your building blocks of:

Perseverance
Hope
Patience

Make it a courageous day!

Keep believing,
Rita

Always remember – Nothing is Impossible