When we set our minds to it, are dedicated, and are willing to persevere until we succeed, it’s truly amazing what we can achieve.
Diana Nyad is one of the first people who comes to mind when I think of determination. She was the first person to swim the 110 miles from Cuba to Florida without using a shark cage.
The mere concept of trying to swim 110 miles would put 99.9% of people off, but the fact that she did it without a shark cage is just the icing on the cake, and you would think that no one would be crazy enough to try it.
This effort took a staggering 55 hours to complete, of which I would have spent 54 hrs and 59 minutes worrying about sharks!
But not only did Diana do it, but she also did it at the age of 64, after having started training again as a long-distance swimmer at the age of 60, after she decided that she needed to do something with her life, to achieve a big bold dream that she had set for herself.
However, what impresses me most, is not the fact that she did it, but that she did it on her 5th attempt.
How many people would have kept going back again to try one more time to achieve such a challenging goal? I know myself, that had I failed the first time to run a Marathon I might have given it another couple of goes to succeed, but 5 I’m not so sure.
But Diana was determined to succeed, she wasn’t prepared to give up, she wanted success so badly that she kept continuing until she had finally achieved it, and this is a monumental goal. I am truly staggered and inspired.
Especially when you consider her first failure was back in 1978 when she was 31 and she was in, what most people would call her prime.
On completing her outstanding achievement she had three key messages to share.
I’ve included here a presentation from Diana, it’s not of her talking about her success, it’s about her talking about the last failure. You can see and feel her passion, but you can also hear how life-threatening this challenge was, but she was not prepared to give up on her dream. Failure was not an option. Her mantra throughout was ‘find a way’.
If you want to learn more about creating highly engaged teams or being a better leader click the link to make an appointment to talk about how I can help.
GET THE COMPLIMENTARY E-BOOK
