In 2004 Jon Favreau was the speech writer for John Kerry’s failed Presidential campaign. He was extremely disheartened at the loss, but not so much as to turn down an offer the following year to be Barack Obama’s speech writer. He reportedly learned Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention speech (considered one of the great speeches of the 21st Century) off by heart and reread his memoir Dreams from my Father and studied his speech patterns. He worked around the clock during the 2008 and 2012 Campaigns writing speeches daily that would become crucial to Obama winning two elections, including the first inauguration speech which he penned in Starbucks. This followed weeks of research and interviews with other speechwriters and historians.
Favreau was really hurting after the 2004 bid, but didn’t allow that to stop him permanently in his tracks. He is one example of someone who got up, dusted themselves off and got back into the fray. Favreau also had intelligence and a history of success in his field on his side. He had justifiable confidence; one of the key elements of resilience.
Justifiable confidence is grounded in having a track record that shows you can walk your talk. You have a measure of proof that you can achieve whatever it is that you are confident about. If a golfer says they accept nothing less than breaking par when their scoring average hovers in the mid 70’s, then their confidence is based either on bravado or delusion. If their scoring average is 71, then it is justifiable. What is your scoreboard for success and how often are you hitting your targets?
In an interview, Steve Jobs said:
“When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.
“The minute that you understand that you can poke life and … something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mould it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again”
The second absolute requirement for resilience is the mindset that steels you to continue persisting in the face of the inevitable obstacles and setbacks. The greatest stories of success usually follow the pattern of someone who has made a good start, encounters severe obstacles and finally overcomes them…usually against the odds.
What is your mindset when facing these obstacles? What are the stories you tell yourself to justify your action?
You know the saying “when the going gets tough…?” I wonder if they got going earlier, whether the going would have got tough in the first place.