President Obama tweeted recently: “My last piece of advice is this simple…Persevere. Because nothing worthwhile is easy.”
This tweet by the President was probably said due to all the talk about same-sex marriage, but it’s a powerful statement that can mean many different things to everyone. It’s also a statement that can offer a vision for how one can approach life at and outside of work.
This statement hit home for me this week on many levels and it made me realize that perseverance is a choice we all make (or don’t make) to get through our hourly/daily challenges. Whether it’s as “trivial” as running that last mechanical up to 21, knowing that it’s 30 minutes late (it’s 5:30 p.m.), and you may have to have a tough conversation with the team about how there are more edits and we’ll all have to stay until 6-7 p.m. to get this out the door to the client. Or it could be as big as having to persevere through a life-altering event like a terrible illness, death, divorce, losing a job, etc…
As we go through our daily routines of work and life, I challenge you to keep the big picture of life in mind and persevere. Know what’s truly important in your life and don’t sweat the “small” stuff. What ever you are dealing with right now, is what you may feel is the most important thing you need to persevere through, but also keep your mind focused on what’s truly important to you. That will help keep everything in perspective.
Remember that perseverance is a choice. How are you going to persevere (or not) today? It’s all up to you.