I really wanted to quit my stats class in grad school, like really bad. It was torturous—just not my thing or something I enjoy. But I studied an extra three days a week for hours straight with amazing tutors I hired to learn the material. I got through it, and the instructor extended her hand in congrats when I turned in my final exam. Surprisingly, I did really well on my exam. I didn’t quit.
I really wanted to quit this one pitch competition. I was worn out from doing so many pitches at the time that I lost sight of the heart of my startup’s mission and building of the actual product. I did the pitch quite poorly in front of my team, an advisor, a panel of judges and audience; but I survived it. I didn’t quit.
I’ve wanted to quit the building of my web and graphic design business more times than I can count. I even had an instructor tell me I couldn’t have my own business (true story). A short trip down comparison lane can be just enough to persuade me that I don’t have what it takes and that my goals are too big. But I revisit my team of supporters around me and search for admirable people to learn from in order to challenge my thinking and continue pressing forward in following my hearts calling.
Many people see my successes, but my goodness they don’t have a sliver of knowing the challenges I have had to overcome and still do daily. I get close to the edge, but I don’t quit.
“Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
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One year I drove across the state in the dead of a really snowy winter with a painful onset of a migraine coming to see my role models speak in person at a business conference called EntreLeadership. I was excited, but I too was on that edge of giving up. I was so physically, emotionally and mentally burned out, and I was questioning why I was pursuing all my big goals. It seemed like nothing was going right at the time.
At the close of the event, Dave Ramsey ended with the reciting of a very short Winston Churchill speech. His voice and words shook me, and the audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. There was such a stern confidence in his voice, one of great determination and grit. You could just feel the energy in room receive a wake-up-call that we have work to do. We have to do what we’re called to do.
These words really hit me because it woke me up from the sleep I knew I fell into. He was talking directly at me, and I knew why I was pulled to attend this event. I needed to be surrounded by the energy of other entrepreneurs and business leaders, and I needed to hear these words. Hearing these words from someone who started at the bottom and overcame it to grow a business so great (Dave Ramsey’s business story is so interesting – do explore it) made the delivery that much more impactful. These two minutes internally changed me and shifted my thinking in an unforgettable way.
My business and larger-than-myself goals were born in my heart, not from my wallet. I’m not quitting. No matter how hard things get, I know my why; and I’m not quitting. History shows me that I get to the other side of challenges time and time again.
Do you have big goals and a vision born from your heart that look too impossible to reach? Good. Don’t quit. Never give in. Never give up. Never. —And when you want to, watch this video:
Video from EntreLeadership, Ramsey Network
