Flexible but resilient

I love all the success stories you hear about stubbornness and obsession.

Old John believed there was gold there and after he was fired he spent 20 years in the desert, even though people told him he was mad, and look, he finally found it and is now a millionaire.

I hear variations on this all the time. They are nice bed time stories told by people to share the importance of persistence or stubbornness.

If you want stubbornness in the face of criticism and relentless obsessiveness then get into R&D.

However, the other 99.9999% of us can’t go live in the desert living off lichen and insects, we have mortgages to pay, kids to send to school, employees, rent, and the list goes on.

Flexibility is important. Flexibility means that you realise the path you are taking isn’t working, so you find a different path, keeping the same destination in mind. Flexibility means adaptation and evolution.

Resiliance means the ability to get up and keep going when you get knocked down. You might lose a sale, disappoint a customer, have your friends tell you that you are going to fail, and so on, but you keep going.

Look at those people you admire in business and you may find behind their confident demeanour that they are just as every bit as insecure as you, but they have learned to be flexible and resilient to achieve their goals.