Fellow humans,
I’m inspired to write tonight because I don’t know what else to do. I was sitting on my ugly flower-patterned couch wondering how I could stay productive. That’s when I realized — that moment of life was completely unfamiliar. I was navigating the unknown.
A friend of mine from my previous job would often argue with me about different things. Her name is A…never mind. I’m actually laughing out loud because if she’s reading this, she knows that’s not the whole story. I like to argue
. She would respectfully disagree sometimes.
One time we argued about self-confidence. Basically, she said self-confidence (believing in yourself) is all we need to succeed, and I disagreed. My argument was that we can believe in ourselves 100%, but if we don’t take the right actions, we will fail. Both of us were partly right. If we combined our perspectives, we would have had the perfect recipe for success.
Entrepreneur and former professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek said:
“At the end of the day, it’s only people that lose belief that quit.”
This is a perfect quote to emphasize my point. It highlights both belief and perseverance. We can’t only believe in something, and we can’t only persevere. Belief is the guide, and perseverance is the doing. To achieve our goals, we must believe and persevere.
The effects of coronavirus sucks. Everybody is in some configuration of unknown territory. Whether it’s our social lives, professional lives, or health. Let me remind you that you had goals before COVID-19. Maybe your goals have changed because of the virus or another reason. That is ok. My goal tonight is to help motivate at least one person to adapt and overcome.
No matter how tricky, scary, or sucky the unknown is — we can find some version of success. It’s ok if we have no idea what success looks like right now, as long as we keep moving. The last thing we should do is let go of our goals, become passive and let life push us around. We’re in a storm, and standing firm might be the only way to survive.
Focus, discipline, and aggression can go a long way in these types of situations. Many people are quitting on their goals because the unknown beat them down. They stopped believing in themselves, stopped persevering, or both. This means there is extra space at the top of the mountain. If ever you were hoping for an opportunity to start climbing, it’s now.
Until next time,
Salvatore Norge
The Unknown
Your co-worker sounds like a genius.