Is To Enough To “Never Give Up?”

Never giving up is presented by many authors and speakers as a key to success.  Perhaps the most famous is by Winston Churchill.

" Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.''

I came across an interesting idea in the Harvard Business Review Blog.  Whitney Johnson asserts that in addition to never giving up you must also Always Show Up.  To Always Show Up means more than just be present, it means to be fully involved and committed to what you are doing.  She tells a story about a job interview for a job she wanted but did not want to appear to be too anxious.  She did the interview, she went to the company and met with the team, but she didn’t really show up.  She held back, she appeared casual and she didn’t make the short list.  Later on she got off the record feedback that the interviewers did not see “anything in my behavior that indicated I passionately wanted the job.”

I pride myself in being a person who never gives up, but I know I don’t Always Show Up.  And I know why.  When I show up, when I am fully present, when I publicly declare my passion,  I increase the risk of disappointment.  If I hold myself back and simply do not give up, I can tell myself and others, “It didn’t really matter.”  But when I Always Show Up and I don’t get what I pursue, I can’t say that.  I have face the hurt.  So here is the dilemma.  When I Always Show Up I increase my chances for success and my risk of disappointment. 

As Carol and I get ready for the next stage in our lives, I’m committed to Always Show Up.  To me this means that I invest the time and the energy to fully investigate each opportunity.  And as I find opportunities that have potential, I run after that opportunity with public passion.  I know that this means that I am going to be disappointed and will hear No more than once.  But at the end, we will get the yes that opens the door to our future.

I find the Harvard Business Review Daily Alert to be a good source of information.  You can scan the one line summaries and then choose what blogs to read.   You can sign up by clicking here.

Bruce