Most anyone can look good with a tail wind; it’s when you are facing head winds that you find out who has true grit and who folds under pressure. In good times, cheap capital, rising rents, and surging demand all quickly cover up mistakes. The outcomes are good and real however the environment is doing most of the work and makes ordinary execution appear exceptional.
Head winds reveal who can adapt and persevere, who can absorb bad news without getting discouraged or defensive, forge relentlessly onward without the positive reinforcement of quick results, and make unpleasant decisions to prepare in time before reality arrives abruptly, sowing chaos for all but wreaking even greater havoc on the totally unprepared.
Word of caution: grit is wonderful… unless it evolves into blind stubbornness. The best combine emotional steadfastness with adaptability.
Closing Quotes:
“Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.” – Winston Churchill
“You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley
“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” – Seneca
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” – Horace
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
