NEVER SURRENDER!!
Ask any successful Wildcatter about their journey. Ask if the process was easy. Ask if they were faced with roadblocks. Then ask this successful Wildcatter one simple question: What is the secret to your success?? Regardless of who you are speaking to, at the end of the conversation, you will hear variations of the same theme:
“The journey was filled with obstacles…but I never quit!! “If you are going through hell, keep going.”
-Winston Churchill
While books, movies, and magazine articles about successful people are inspirational, they can have the potential negative affect of portraying the climb to the mountaintop as relatively quick and easy. It must be…in the movie he went from the gutter to the boardroom in less than two hours. I can do that!! In reality, the process in grueling and rife with pitfalls.
“There are no quick wins in business – it takes years to become an overnight success.”
-Richard Branson
Success is a marathon, not a sprint. We like to think the race to the top happens in leaps and bounds. In reality, the evolution requires one step after another, mixed with a multitude of stumbles along the way. The fundamental underpinnings of every successful Wildcatter is the ability to keep their eye on the PRIZE.
“A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
-Jim Watkins
Wildcatters know that they should EXPECT failures…but never ACCEPT failures. These so-called failures are really guideposts to successes. As Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed; I have just found 10,000 ways it won’t work.”
So remember, when you come home from a long day’s work, bloodied and battered, don’t give up and never, never, never feel sorry for yourself. Simply channel your inner Scarlett O’Hara and say “After all, tomorrow is another day!”
“Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering…I will try again tomorrow.”
-Mary Anne Radmacher