“Life is a like a boxing match. You get knocked out, not because you are down but because you refuse to stand up.”
Corporate life isnt very far off from what we face in our personal lives. We see downs, failures, depressions, pressures, criticism, politics, and a host of negativity that requires us to face them chin up.
When things go wrong — DON’T QUIT. Fight it out like Muhammad Ali would have done against the best of his adversaries. Quitting is easy, no wonder people quit all the time. Quitting is a facade to what is actually escapism in reality. We think escaping our current scenario would lead us to a land of roses. In reality we encounter similar people, personalities and scenarios manifested in different forms.
Fight it out. Stay there long. Take some punches. Know for a fact that your time will come to deliver some as well.
Take a stance
Develop a stance to be with the right, bold and fair people and situations. Ali had a body language and demeanor of a “winner already”. People respect righteousness and bold behavior. There are bound to be times, when we feel ignored and walked over. Let people know that you don’t like it and isn’t acceptable to you explicitly. Work on alternatives that would suit you and the organization. Rarely in our work places we see strong people, with strong opinions getting a raw deal because they choose to shape their careers by being with right people and showing up at the right places. Right is might.
Take those punches well
Lets look at tough times in our working lives. New assignments, non amiable co workers, wrong projects and how can we forget politics. There is no fun in getting punched and then quitting. The real game is in staying there long enough, getting those blows, falling down and rising. People with great and long careers didn’t reach there with an easy stroll — they would have fought for it and fought well.
Pain makes us stronger. Cultivate mental toughness because we are here for the long.
Hit with a strategy
Ali was famous not only for his powerful landings but also for his wily and foxy moves. He could judge and measure his opponents so well, that he knew when and where to hit. Understand what you are up against. Detach and assess the situation. Break it down issue wise. Start hitting. Hit them with a purpose to dissolve them and see them falling in front of you. I refer to people, tasks and situations as “them”. Don’t hit when you haven’t thought well enough. You will look like a maniac and wreck. Calm down, internalize and then hit.
The best way to test our toughness and resilience is to be in negative situations and with equally tough people. Don’t duck them. Get muddy. Get sweaty. Fight’s on.
💎 Head Business Development BPO | Startup Sales Coach | Digital Marketing Evangelist | 💎
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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on February 13, 2015.