7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU THROW IN THE TOWEL
BY DR. STAN TOLER
Babe Ruth said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” That would be good news to the little league player practicing his batting, holding his bat in one hand and throwing the ball in the air with the other. After six attempts and six strikes he turned to his dad and said, “I’m getting to be a pretty good pitcher!”
Circumstances changed the game plan, but his attitude salvaged a win.
Have circumstances ever changed your plans? The project deadline approaches. The troops are restless. Expectations are high, but it just isn’t coming together. You are tempted to call it a day—to quit. Fact is you might be a strike closer to a home run.
Let me suggest 7 things to do before giving up:
1. Review your purpose. You might be asking, “What in the world am I doing?” That is a good question. What was your initial motivation? What dynamic has changed? It could be time for a re-purpose.
2. Assess your investment. What is your capital in the venture: time, energy, personnel, money, and prayers? What ownership do you share with others? You may want to protect your investment—and even make a couple of deposits. If the project was worth it in the beginning, it probably has not lost it’s value.
3. Talk with your peers. Maybe you have never done anything like this before—but in one way or another someone has. Who are the entrepreneurs? Find them. Buy their lunch and start asking the probing questions.
4. Analyze your methods. Are there different roads to the same destination? You may need to fire up your management GPS and do what the unseen passenger says: “Recalculating route”.
5. Reward your milestones. Congratulate yourself for aiming at the goal line instead of the sideline. When you take a scary step, celebrate it. That chocolate mocha may never taste as good as it will after you decide to keep going.
6. Recognize your real enemies. Your barriers may have faces on them. Then again they might be in the form of negative thinking, leftover childhood attitudes, or a success phobia. Until you learn more about the enemy, you will not be able to launch a battle plan.
7. Take a break. You may think your needs are more money, staff, time, or experience when all you need is a time out. Your biggest dream may follow a game of hoops. Your grandest idea may blossom on a golf course.
Remember, there’s a “Ten” in “tenacity”, not a Zero. After you have analyzed the situation, you might be better off putting a shoulder to the boulder. Babe Ruth is in the baseball Hall of Fame because he refused to let strikeouts rule his thinking—or his life.
Decide to persevere. Determine to be known for carrying the torch, not throwing in the towel.
Acknowledge what you can do—and what God can do through you—and then use the best of your (and his) ability to keep going.
You are loved,
Stan
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