Determination: (noun) definition – firmness of purpose. Synonyms: steadfastness, will power, tenacity, boldness, courage, resolution.

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci.

To be determined to get back up more times than one falls down is an admirable trait; a virtue that all champions around the world have in common. People who have succeeded after many failures have true grit in the face of adversity; people like inventor Thomas Edison, film maker Stephen Spielberg or writer Dr Seuss all had their ideas rejected time and time again, but they persisted, and in the end they triumphed.

The world is full of stories of persistence, bravery and determination to win against the odds, to be heard, to be seen, to have an innovative idea accepted, or they had a whole-hearted belief that their ideas could change the state of the world. On a global scale there are people who refused to back down or to give in, people who had seemingly radical thought and ideologies of the time which went against the status quo, like Emmaline Pankhurst one of the leading suffragettes for women’s rights in the U.K, and Nelson Mandela a stoic campaigner against apartheid in South Africa. Both were arrested and suffered for their opinions and their actions against the mood of society at the time, but in the end won favour and changed the world.

I am not suggesting that I or anyone else should need to be so anti-normative in challenging society to achieve freedom in the context I am addressing such as finances, career and independence. I am suggesting that with refusal to give up, using courage and determination to succeed, comes the will and the power to make it a reality. Never giving up means that one keeps searching no matter the odds, and eventually a solution or a transformation takes place, whether it is within the problem or within the person, with action comes change.

It has also been known that serendipity intervenes; one is in the right place at the right time, an influencer understands the struggle and offers a lifeline, an introduction leads to a job offer, a vital book is discovered which leads to different solutions, or the teacher appears when the student is ready. But one must stay in the game, keep searching, never quitting, always confident that success is possible and will happen.

True grit will get you there.

Gabe