Stay in the game!
The founder of Alibaba Jack Ma once said, “today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” Then he makes the profound final point - most of them give up at tomorrow.
To achieve the unachievable, you will need to do one thing and one thing only - stay in the game for as long as you can.
Contrary to popular common wisdoms about having a great attitude, the can do spirit and unstoppable passion, if you quit the game after couple of setbacks and tough times, no amount of the great attitude and passion is going to be adequate.
In 1937, after many years of struggle, Walt Disney has made over 800 hours of animation, and has lost a fortune to produce them. A lot of his closed friends tried to persuade him to give up; however, he insisted to continue staying in the industry.
Towards the end of 1937, 21 December 1937 to be precise, Walt Disney released a movie called “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs”. It didn’t just change the fortune of Walt Disney, but the whole animation industry. There would be no Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Disneyland, if Walt Disney decided to call it quit in 1936.
Staying in the game is a lot harder than what you would have imagined. When something sounds trivia, the human have the tendency of underestimating the difficult of going through it.
When you are in a game, wins and loses are inevitable, they are simply an essential part of the game, without them the game is just a game that not worth playing. Everyone can stay in the game for as long as we can possible imagine if they are winning all the time; however, a game where you always win is not a game, it is a monopoly.
Things can change drastically when you start to lose in the game. In a business setting, the CEOs response to losing by laying people off; in a sport world, the General Managers fire head coach or trade players; in a family scenario, married couple divorce each other and split their assets and children.
The key to juggling is not about catching, it is about the throwing. The key to staying in the game is not about winning, it is about losing.
The things you do after the loss is more important than the things you do after you have won. Most of business leaders and professional athletes quit the game after repeated losses, not endless wins; actually you are an idiot to do so if you are winning game after game.
When you are winning, the reasons are always similar - great team play, good spirit and excellent communication; however, when you are losing, everyone has an unique perspective on the why. For example, To this date, people are still debating the real cause of the 2008 recession. The lack of unification of such view would eventually lead to the absence of certain players in the future of the game.
So how can we stay in the game for as long as we can?
To stay in the game for as long as you can would require the following four action:
Stop looking back too much - it hurts your neck, which is one of the most important body parts, that’s why in the old days they don’t chop off your head but your neck instead.
The only way forward is forward. You stay, you are left behind. When you are behind you are history.
Be too busy to read and analyse your criticisms - Criticisms are like the smoke coming out the smoker’s mouth, it makes them feel good, but really bad for you!
Forget about retrospect. The solution will only work when A, B C and D are happening at the same time. It is a pointless exercise, as the chance of that happens again is nearly zero.