This is something I’ve been reflecting on a lot in recent weeks and months as we have all experienced challenging and uncertain times in different ways.
As someone who has often been described as a “dog with a bone” (and I’ll take that as a compliment!), I believe it’s a great life skill to have, especially in the current climate.
As a gymnastics coach, back in March, the thought of spending 2 weeks with the gym doors shut was inconceivable (never mind the 4 months it eventually turned out to be!) So, what did we do? Transitioned to online classes to keep our squad members’ physical conditioning up and keep them motivated. “It’ll never work” they said… but it did!” In fact, some of them have come back stronger than they were before and really appreciated the efforts that we went to in order to keep them engaged over lockdown.
The thought of returning to a sport whilst maintaining social distancing (where physical contact is often required to safely support our athletes) was also unthinkable. But, again, we’ve done it!
We’ve had to reshape our thinking and in actual fact, it’s been great fun to get creative and come up with new ideas that can be put to the test – some work, some may not but we are making progress and it’s all part of the journey. Arguably, it’s even more rewarding to see their progress when it has been achieved in this way and the looks on their faces when they achieve something they didn’t dream possible, without the (physical) support of their coach makes it all the more worthwhile.
There’s also been a time recently in my career when I was looking to pivot in a new direction, applying for a role that was outside of my “usual” experience but one that I am hugely passionate about and confident that my transferable skills would add value to my new prospective employer. I was unsuccessful at the first stage due to the volume of candidates, but got some great feedback, so undeterred, I kept in touch with the recruiting Manager and when the opportunity became available, I was next in line… Perseverance paid off!
So, however you refer to it…
Perseverance pays off
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Dog with a bone
If you want something badly enough, with the right mindset… you’ll get it!
I’d love to know your thoughts – what do you do when you’re told you can’t!?!
PS I’m not sure my dog is particularly good at demonstrating the analogy of “a dog with a bone” as she’s too soft for that, but hopefully the picture caught your attention (and getting a dog was definitely another one of my “you can’t” moments… at least, initially! 😉)
Berry Consulting 