On Tremendous Effort
If you’ve been following my writing for a while, you might’ve come across a post I wrote shortly after two incongruent things happened in my life.
- I had a baby (my first)
- I started a new job at a 4 person startup as Head of Operations (not a small task)
The post was titled New Parents: Failing at Everything and is something that I still believe in two years after it was originally written.
With my little guy into his toddler phase, I’ve started to notice a new phenomena. One that could accurately be titled Kids: Showing Us How to Try Hard at Everything (and do almost anything).
That’s exactly what I’ve started to notice, above all else. My son tries so hard at everything he does. His natural want to try, learn, fail, get better, and overcome, supersedes all else. It’s a determination that I’ve never had the chance to witness up close before. And it’s damn inspirational.
Kids show us that curiosity, focus, and dogged resolve can make just about anything happen, if given enough time. Not only is everything new, without context, and completely disjointed, but most of the world they’re living in has been built for people more than twice as tall and 7 times their body weight! These odds do not deter, however–and that’s what’s so powerful.
Faced with various business challenges on a daily basis, my son reminds me to stay curious and know that there are solutions to any problem; I just need to try hard enough, and stick with it long enough, to figure it out.
He lets me know that one minor setback, no matter how devastating it is in the moment, doesn’t have to derail the entire day (or week, or month), because there’s a lot of juice to be squeezed out of any given day.
His effort is a constant nudge to keep pushing, even through seeming devastation and disillusionment, and eventually it will get it done.
I truly hope that in some way, through our many days together, I can give back to him a fraction of everything he has given me.
Keep pushing forward, my friends. This oversized world’s got nothin’ on you.
‘I just need to try hard enough, and stick with it long enough, to figure it out’ true words Dan! Would love a post on knowing when to pivot/quit.
Demi A.