Never Give Up, Never Surrender

On day “F” I blogged about Failing Forward. Giving up and surrendering is not failing. Failing is trying to do something, and not succeeding. It is as much a part of our every day life as breathing or walking. But giving up and surrendering, well that’s a horse of another color.

My first manager in Real Estate used to tell me he could tell when someone had given up. He said they would walk into his office with that imaginary spear through their middle, have the gait and the look in the eye that told him they were quitting. Just couldn’t take it anymore. Someone had gotten to them. He used to tell me it made him angry that someone who shouldn’t matter, caused a good person to give up.

My SEAL friends know that by the end of their training, just before they graduate, the instructors could ask them to do anything and they’d do it without considering the consequences to their own person, not consider the pain. At a certain point that line is crossed and that person would never quit. Never.

Unlike failure, quitting just ends the game. I think it was Robert Louis Stevenson who said the difference between a published author and an unpublished author is a published author writes until he’s published. The unpublished author quits.

Some days it seems like it’s hard to put one foot in front of the other, or there are two steps forward and one back. But if we keep moving, keep writing, keep working on our passion, we eventually get there.

Maybe it’s just as easy as deciding there isn’t anything out there that will make us quit.

So we won’t.

What about you?