When I first began looking for a school leadership job, I recall applying for a number of positions that I felt would be a good fit for me. I had spent hours researching schools, reviewing communities, and trying to decide if I wanted to apply for the job. I was relentless in my pursuit. After a few months, however, I began to question whether or not I had the fortitude to continue. I had been asked to interview for some jobs, but after each one, I received a phone call or a letter indicating that they had gone with a different candidate for the position. With each letter and phone call, I began to question myself about whether or not I was cut out for a leadership role and if it was ever going to happen for me. My spirit of being relentless was fading because I wasn't sure if I possessed the skills necessary to do the job. I was close to giving up and moving on to some other goal because it just wasn't happening for me. I was losing my relentlessness because it seemed to be too hard. Fortunately, I had a lot of really great mentors who gave me wise counsel and told me to stick with it because the right job would come around and it would be the right fit for me. Thank goodness I listened to them because that has made all the difference in the world to me. I maintained my relentless pursuit, but I modified my expectations.
To be relentless means that you are determined to do something and refuse to give up. No matter the obstacles that may be in front of you, if you have a spirit of being relentless, you will push through those obstacles no matter the circumstances because you are determined to accomplish your goal. Your own self imposed expectations play a huge role in your relentless pursuits because you have to know what is actually feasible and what is a stretch. In my case, I knew that I had the skills, but my expectation that I would get any job I applied for needed to be modified. My relentlessness didn't take into consideration a variety of variables that played a huge role in whether or not I would get a job or not. I didn't need to quit being relentless, I just needed to adjust my attitude about what being relentless means.
The fighting spirit is part of human nature and that is why "fight or flight" has become part of our vernacular. We sometimes view the flight part as a weakness, when in all reality, it is really just a modification of our pursuits and that is where being relentless comes in to play. If we get knocked down, are we going to stay there or will we dust ourselves off and get back up. Each of us has a choice to make when this happens and that choice has a major impact on the outcomes we desire. Being relentless is a consistent choice we make to accept the good with the bad and continuing to get up and move forward no matter how many times we get knocked down. If we are strong in our convictions and know that what we want is possible, we can accomplish things we put our minds to. It just takes a lot of hard work and a relentless spirit.
#FORWARD #FORGE
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