We have all seen the grueling, live, bloodied face of a man in the ring dripping with sweat and pulling up every ounce of resolve and energy to win against their opponent. As we watch we never imagine that person in the ring throwing the punches, shielding and ducking from attacks to avoid being knocked out, could be us. Yet sometimes in your life whether its building your business, advancing your career or transforming personally, that’s exactly where you are… in the ring almost knocked out or down and the only way out is to fight.
Are you a Fighter? Will you Fight?
I don’t know about you, but my personality and nature would be to do a fast, fun avoidance dance quickly away from any hint of a fight. And yet without invitation, despite my goal for harmony and ease, I find myself in the ring fighting and I was not taught to fight.
Did you learn to fight? Were you taught how hard you would need to fight?
When it is not your nature, but your environment, circumstances, and choices drop you smack dab in front of the toughest most feared competitor, what will you do? There are only two options which are to either step out of the ring or fight.
This week was fascinating and an incredible roller coaster ride as I sat and listened to a veteran and also an aspiring entrepreneur share their struggles, doubts, and honest realizations.
The veteran entrepreneur has been in the ring for well over a decade and as this person documented their dissatisfaction of where they were at, they realized and confessed they had not fought hard enough and truly admitted only probably working at 20 % effort.
Then there was a friend contemplating entrepreneurship that was examining what the career path looked like and all the effort and time it would take to build it. This person sees the struggle and sacrifice very clearly and knows they may not want to fight for it.
Here I am, someone who craves financial stability and yet said yes to being an entrepreneur. I said yes to the fight without knowing how big or how long the fight would be and not even knowing how to fight.
Guess what? I have learned that the fight is persistence. The fight is constant and sometimes draining. There are multiple fights and there is always a winner and loser. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot win every time so you will experience loss. I have been beaten, beat, and beat down, but I get up and go again.
Every entrepreneur and anyone in career transition should run or walk hills, climb stairs, or even hike a mountain weekly as a reminder that going up is hard; it takes effort, it takes focus, it takes mental positivity, and it is only achieved in steps. It is going to hurt, it is going to be uncomfortable, and you will doubt if you can do it and finish.
This week the theme of it’s a fight, not knowing it was such a big fight, and not wanting the fight was strung like a set of blinking neon lights. The lights cannot be ignored.
As I stand in the ring myself, here is what I learned. I am a fighter and I am constantly learning how to fight out of sheer necessity of course. Fighters do what they have to, not always what they want to do. Fighters train and train and train some more.
One week ago, I was knocked down, knocked out. With just enough energy to strategize on the ‘next step’, I took one new step in a different direction and then gave another enthusiastic punch fighting for what I wanted.
After many defeats, the one more step forward opened a new exciting door and then the extra punch I threw, led me to winning a very exciting new contract potentially the largest to date of my career.
You can survive the knock downs and total knockouts and when you do and keep going, you may just find the fighter in you was preparing you to be the champion you are meant to be.
Fight for your dreams, for what you deserve and believe in, and for the life you imagine!
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