A Crucial Shift to Prevail

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“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–which you can never afford to lose– with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality,” according to Admiral Jim Stockdale.

What Stockdale describes from POW experiences from 1965-1973 were later called the Stockdale Paradox by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. He points out the crucial difference between blind optimism and faith rooted in reality. In his case, he meant the difference between the soliders who kept hoping to be out by Christmas, then another Christmas, and another…and they died of a broken heart versus those who dealt with the “gritty facts with gritty faith” who were more likely to survive.

What does this mean for you?

Lean in. Slug through the difficult parts of your reality. And work for the outcomes you want to create. Keep your faith rooted in reality, more than blind hope. To overcome the most difficult odds, you will have to take many small, gritty steps. Most likely, you will have to do some things that you do not want to do in order to reach the destination you desire.

From light optimism to heavy prevailing, this is resilience. And you can do it. Today, you only have to do what needs to be done today to prevail in the end. Keep going!

Worth Repeating 

You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–which you can never afford to lose– with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality. 

-Admiral Jim Stockdale