Doing The Impossible!
Margaret Thatcher said, “Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”
And those days seem to appear fairly frequently anymore, don’t they?
Most of you know that I recently completed a book in 52 days in order to have it available at a conference last Spring. That is not something I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone but I learned a lot about myself in the process. (My first book took three years!)
The book is called, How to Get Men to Take You Seriously in Business and in Life, and the questions I asked 56 women revolved around “respect.” My third question was, “What did you do differently than other women to get where you are?” (The answers apply to men as well. <g>)
Of course I got the usual answerers about working hard and staying on task. But this is what just blew me away: EVERY single time I would hit the wall, every time I was physically exhausted, and every time I wanted to throw in the towel someone would say some variation of, “I refused to stop.” “If I ran into an obstacle I’d find a way over it, around it, or through it.” “I am unstoppable when I know what I need to accomplish.” “I ignored and endured discomforts.”
Intellectually I knew they were talking about their own lives not mine but I got the message. And this is it: follow your heart, follow your dream, follow your passion! And when you are doing THAT, you’ll find the courage and the stamina to see it through to the end.
I also asked for the factors that create respect and it became very apparent that respect is all about results, personal values, standards and boundaries. My sweet little southern Momma - who was ALWAYS grammatically correct-- used to say, “There are certain things up with which I will not put.”
So it comes down to this when you have to do the “impossible:” If you really believe in it and it is aligned with your values, you’ll be able to reach down deep into reserves that you do not know you process, and you’ll be able to make the impossible POSSIBLE!
What does all of this have to do with respect? Respect is given more often, far more often for what you DO than for who you are. When you get more DONE, respect follows.
PS: Be like Maggie Thatcher and do the impossible because she was right. It feels really good AFTER you’ve done it.
Want to read the book How To Get Men To Take You Seriously in Business and in Life?
