Tenacity

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“Few win on the first try. Success is never easily and quickly won.”

-LLIC 2010

The Kansas City Chiefs today.

The Yo-Yo Ma Concert in January.

The project thrown on my desk on Thursday.

All of these things are thematic with this week’s quote and speak to the great power of tenacity. All of them continue to prove that life gives opportunities to those who refuse to walk away defeated.

I love the Chiefs, but with their key injuries in the first three weeks of the season, fans have little to be excited for. Jamaal Charles’ knee. Tony Moeaki and Eric Berry. Gone. Arrowhead was so empty today I thought for sure the game would be blacked-out. Nevertheless, the boys in red had some fire in them today and wouldn’t stand to be defeated again on their home turf. Certainly not the prettiest win, and certainly not against the best team, but a win nonetheless. It’s good to see that my team hasn’t given up!

While I whined last week about that missed opportunity to see Yo-Yo Ma, I didn’t give up. After all, the concert is in January. I checked the symphony website. Daily. I checked E-Bay, Craigslist, wandered the internet almost aimlessly to see if I could catch any news whatsoever. Finally, last week the symphony website opened up a single-seat in the nose-bleed section of the Kauffman Center. Somebody had refunded their season tickets for whatever reason. Yeah, it cost a pretty penny, but you know what? I got a ticket. I’m in!

Work spoke to the theme as well. From out of nowhere, a project landed on my desk on Thursday morning. A client needed a design for a new warehouse done by Monday. I was the only engineer in the office who didn’t have a deadline at the end of the week. I stayed late on Thursday and tripped over myself a few times as I tried to decipher the notes and other work started by others in the office who couldn’t take on the project any longer because they had their deadlines to meet.

Almost a year ago it would have taken me two weeks to have done the same job. My boss wanted me to learn efficiency, and he did it by piling work on me, forcing me to make decisions quickly and to worry about the things that mattered and not about the things that didn’t. Those first few weeks on the jobs were maddening and I must admit that I thought about going back to my old job. Yet, I told myself that I had a lot to learn and that this was the way to do it. To see the progress that I’ve made in such a short year because I decided to stick-it-out is jaw-dropping. I didn’t think it was possible to learn so much in such little time.

I’ve preached it a million times and I will preach it again. Never give up. Just never give up. Never. People who win and succeed do so only because they failed time and time again. The moment that you give up, you end all opportunities to succeed.

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!