Staying the Course Despite Rejection

Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

                                                                                                                            ― Winston S. Churchill

I have a very hard time accepting the fact that something cannot be done.  It is perhaps the reason I am so persistent in the position I hold at Optimist International.  My position is designed to, with the help of others, to create initiatives and programs for our members to use that will help the organization turn the corner and reverse the two-decade trend of declining membership.  Other service organizations are in a similar situation.

It’s not easy.  It’s frustrating and disappointing at times.  I see potential if there would just be some persistence in the area of focus yet people who hold the potential in their hands get stopped dead in their tracks because of negativity or someone rejecting their message.  A couple of quick examples seem to be order.

 I recently made a presentation to establish a new Optimist group in the Pacific northwest.  The presentation seemed to have generated some interest among some of those in attendance but everything stopped when a respected member of the group says he saw no benefit to his group working to establish an Optimist group.   This appeared to be the consensus at the moment but I later learned there were people who could not make the meeting who were very interested.   Enter plan B.  After learning the group did not want to do something collectively, my inner voice told me to pursue the few who did individually while trying to combine their interests with an outside group in the community.  This is still a work in progress but it demonstrates how a “No” produced another course of action.

Similarly, I had been having a heck of a time trying to connect with a prospect in person because schedules would not line up and life got in the way for this individual.  The door apparently had closed.  But then the voice spoke up.  “Why don’t you try to meet via SKYPE or some other electronic means?  I had been so focused on meeting this individual in person that I had completely overlooked the other option.  Enter plan B.

 Usually, there is always going to be a Plan B. I’m arguing that Plan B keeps the door open for our goal or objective but we have to be persistent in both listening for such a revelation and being willing to act on it when it happens.  This then, brings into play perseverance because our willingness to be persistent creates the desire to stick with something until there is a positive result. This formula has worked time and time again when it comes to membership recruitment or development of a new Optimist presence in a community.  By getting into this practice, you will find more and more of your projects will reach a satisfactory level of completion, your objectives and goals will be attained and you will find yourself doing a happy dance more frequently.

This is not a formula solely for community service groups.  Any leader worth his or her weight in pretzels should know alternatives are necessary for any initiative because nothing ever goes completely as planned.  The characteristics of persistence and perseverance work in community service work, the legal profession, finance, construction and so forth.

  So let’s go to work shall we?