Commitment

For someone who was about as athletically inclined as Charlie Brown growing up, I seem to always look to football coaches for inspiration.  From Lou Holtz to Bill Belichick, it just seems to me that they have a good grip on what it means to be successful.

And one of the greatest coaches in sports, in all sporting endeavors, for my money, is Vince Lombardi.  Some of what he has said resonates so strongly with me.  And one of the most powerful has been his thoughts on commitment:

“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
“Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
“I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.”

And really, what better words to live by, then when you’re looking for a job.  When you’re unemployed, or soon to be unemployed, with your family depending on you; getting a job is the only option.  There is no quitting.  It is about absolute commitment.  And yes, you will get knocked down, even among the “luckiest,” who has not had to endure some sort of adversity.  Frank Sinatra sang, “Shot down in May…When I’m back on top, back on top in June…”

You just get back up.  Interview went badly; sent out a hundred resumes with no response; and running low on money – it’s hard.  It was never meant to be easy.  In some ways, knowing that it was meant to be hard, being totally committed, it’s “easier” to plow ahead – not worry about what went wrong or what could have been.  Just plow ahead.  Another 100 resumes…  Another “guerilla” tactic…  More networking…  And you will do it! 

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