Tenacity – GIYC part 2

Without GIYC (grit in your craw), you are unable to digest life’s challenges. With GIYC, you rise every time you fall, keep going when tempted to quit, and maintain hope when circumstances overwhelm.

In this post, we look at GIYC quality #2 — tenacity. The eight qualities (as described by Robert Luckadoo*) are diligence, tenacity, optimism, flexibility, discipline, resilience, confidence, and purpose.  A picture of tenacity

Where diligence is constant effort to accomplish a goal, tenacity is “extreme persistence in adhering or accomplishing something.” A tenacious person is “stubborn” and “relentless” in what they are attempting to do. Tenacity comes from a word that means “holding fast.”

Robert tells the story of the daily battle he would have with the black ants during summer vacation in his grandparents backyard. During the day, as a seven year old, he would battle the ants with his plastic army men, rocks, fire crackers, sticks and BB gun to try and wreck havic. By the end of the day, the ant colony was decimated. They had been blasted with fire crackers, dug out with sticks, run over with matchbox cars and hammered by slingshots.

Amazingly, the ants would work all night and have their colony put back in order and in perfect shape. They would be ready each morning for another day of battles and attack. These black ants serve as a graphic example of how in life and work we are called to stand our ground each and every day regardless of the challenges we face.

Tenacity applied

I had to call forth tenacity before and after every surgery I faced during my recovery process. With a total of nine surgeries under my belt, I came to dread the next one. Recovery from any one surgery took so much effort that to think about facing it all over again, was almost too much to handle. But I knew it was necessary to get to where I was going. The battle came — I fought valiantly — then during the night that followed,  I used tenacity to claw my way back to health and strength.

Work also requires tenacity. Being in the re-entry phase gets overwhelming at times as I work to build a thriving coaching practice after waiting for recovery. With each setback and disappointment I face, I believe that as I keep getting up each time I fall, I will achieve the goal I have set out to reach.

Robert puts it this way, “You have to clear your head of the previous day’s battles and march right back into action every morning. You have to have a little grit in your craw, as you take on the daily challenges of your profession.”

Food for the tenacious mind

As you fight the challenges in your life, rebuilding courage and resolving to keep going — let the following words inspire you.

Often it is tenacity, not talent, that rules the day. — Julia Cameron

Constant dripping hollows out a stone. — Titus Lucretius Carus

You don’t need to have everything figured out. Learning is part of the process. — Buky Ojelabi

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. — Thomas A. Edison

Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work. — Albert Einstein

Where do you need to apply tenacity?
Who can help you to clean up the mess a battle has caused?

*Grit in Your Craw: the 8 Strengths You Need to Succeed in Business and Life, by Robert Luckadoo
Image source: Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net