Mastering the Art of Success- Refuse to Quit: The last lesson is the power of making the
decision that you will not give up, no matter what. I call it “refuse to
quit” because I want people to realize that it is a decision—you either
accept quitting or you don’t. By deciding you will refuse to quit, you
decide that no matter what you come up against, no matter what y ou
have to overcome, you just keep going. I often will share with people
the story of my first marathon.
I ran my first marathon i n a hurricane. After training for four
months, the event day arrived and it was pouring rain with winds
gusting up to seventy miles an hour. Because I had trained for so long,
and I was committed to the goal, I went out and ran anyway. It was
hard the whole way but there were a few moments that were
particularly diffi cult—moments where I was exhausted and unsure,
moments when I wondered what the heck I was doing.
Thankfully I was prepared f or those moments. I had some things
written on my hand to remind me of why I was doing what I was doing.
I would look down at my hand and read the names of three friends who
had died waiting for a transplant. Reading those names was my why.
Developing a compelling why is critical to achieving long-lasting
succes s. As J. W. Von Goethe said, “If you have a big enough why,
you can endure any how.”
So I challenge you to know what that why is for you, because many
people don’t have one, or they haven’t thought about it enough to
articulate what it is; when times get tough they crash because the why
isn’t there to hold them up.
WRIGHT
Would you tell our readers more about your concept of how
adversity can be an advantage?
BLACK
I firmly believe that our greatest challenges can become our greatest
strengths and adversity can be an advantage. P eople who tend to excel
and reach the highest peaks are not the ones who had sm es toooth rid
get there. If you read about any great successes in history, you discover
th at they all had challeng es to overcome. What’s more, it is precisely