One of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies is The Outlaw Josey Wales. Clint’s character, Josey Wales, travels out west after the Civil War. Early in the story, Josey meets up with Chief Dan George – called Lone Watie in the film according to IMDb, although I can never see him as anything other than Chief Dan George.
Lone Watie tells Josey about a meeting that he and some of the other chiefs had with “Abram” Lincoln. “He told us we must ‘Endeavor to persevere.’ We thought about it for a long time, ‘Endeavor to persevere.’ And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union.”
Endeavor to Persevere
I like things to happen just the way I plan them. That’s the whole point of planning, right? You figure out what you want to have happen, identify the steps you need to take, and then begin “working the plan.” And then you reach your goal and live happily ever after. Right?
Wrong. If only it were that easy. It’s taken me years – decades, actually – to finally realize that it hardly ever works that way. You can do all the things you’ve planned to do exactly the way you said you would and you might still not realize your goal. At least not right away.
That’s when it’s time to apply the Chief Dan George maxim – endeavor to persevere. Endeavor to persevere! In the movie, he says it twice and the second time it’s with emphasis.
Honestly, I think that there are some things that are close to impossible to do – like winning the lottery or going back to medical school when you are 80 – but most everything is possible as long as you exercise perseverance.
Dictionary.com defines the word persevere as to “maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement.” How do you do that? By deciding to – every day. Each time you tell yourself “it’s never gonna happen,” you tell yourself “yes, it will and I’m in it until I’m done.”
The next time you think to yourself “how the hell did that so and so get to be vice president?” Or “that skinny?” Or “build such a successful business?” remember the Chief. They did because they endeavored to persevere.
Continue With Style
Which brings us to the second lesson from Clint. In The Eiger Sanction, when Hemlock (Clint) saves Meyer from falling off the face of the mountain, Meyer tells him “You’re very good. I have really enjoyed climbing with you.” Hemlock responds, “We’ll make it.” To which Meyer resolutely replies “I don’t think so. But we shall continue with style.”
Never mind that Meyer does die. That’s not the point. The point is that even when things are tough and the end seems completely out of reach, you continue – with style.
What that means is that when you step on the scale to find that the number has gone up, instead of down, even though you were really GOOD the day before, you don’t allow yourself to quit trying. You don’t allow yourself to get discouraged. Above all, you don’t take it out on your loved ones and co-workers.
Continuing with style means that your persevering is done in a way that doesn’t bulldoze others, but instead helps others to succeed. It’s even about leadership. When others see you continue to make progress despite setbacks, they are inspired.
A Confession
A friend told me once that we teach what it is that we most need to learn ourselves. I think that’s what most blogs are secretly about – they’re lessons for self study. So you can guess that I am encountering some roadblocks in getting fit. My scale is not cooperating. Meditating at 5:45 in the morning is tough. But I feel better now that I’ve written this post. I’m encouraged to continue with style.
How can you be a persevering, stylish inspiration today?
Yes, we teach what we most need to learn.
In 2010, I created an annual plan which included personal and business goals. I did some of them, but the year slipped by quickly and I was stunned when December rolled around and I hadn’t done most of what I’d set out to do.
One of the items on my list was to paint 3 portraits of spiritual and mythic figures (I have a series with Buddha, Krishna and Inanna so far…). Instead of beating myself up for failing in 2010, I got out my paints and painted. It’s now January, 2011 and I already have one new painting finished (of Hera…). So I can look at my situation in one of two ways: I failed in 2010 or I’m way ahead of the game in 2011.
Endeavor to persevere!