Those greater advertisers in marketing land have done a pretty good job at convincing us that, once a year, we should remember our mothers on Mother’s Day.
Well, I’m sorry it’s just not like that for me!
You see my late mother, a wonderful woman whom I appreciate more and more as the years go by, hated, yes hated, Mother’s Day with a passion. She reckoned that we ought to remember mothers more frequently than once a year. She thought that at least once a day was about right!
There’s not a day goes past that I don’t think of my mother and the lessons she taught me (and lies she told me, but I’ll save them for another day!). And right now I’m thinking of a wonderful word, amongst the many that you don’t hear very often nowadays, that she taught me. And what’s that word? Well it’s…
stickability
and what a great word it is. When things get tough for me that’s when I reach down for some “stickability.” And what does it mean? Well it’s…
A person’s ability to persevere with something; staying power:
“The secret of success is stickability”.
In each of us there is a certain amount of stickability that we need to bring out from time to time. Whether in the business world or in our personal lives, we need to be able to cope with tough times, learn by them and bounce back.
US military officer, Captain Gerald Coffee, who was incarcerated in solitary confinement for years in a dungeon like prison cell in Hanoi during the Vietnam conflict, expresses his view of the concept along these lines…
“It really means how we bounce back from the defeats that we suffer, from those setbacks that we hadn’t anticipated, because we certainly cannot often win every battle. Its how we come back with what we’ve learned from setbacks and how we apply those lessons for the future challenges in our lives.”
Remember that we all suffer setbacks from time to time. The real test of character is how we move on and learn from those experiences. Its stickability!
Stickability is what helps us achieve and maintain success.
There’s something for which I thank my mum today. There’s lots more top tank her for on other days. Maybe I’ll tell you sometime about another wonderful word she wedged in my brain… “gumption.”
What are the things you’re going to thank your mother for, today and every day? Not just on Mother’s Day!
Nice thoughts about your mother.
Stickability, gumption and the third was “Learn when to say “NO”.
NO to going along with the crowd when what they are doing isn’t right.
Yeah learning to both say “no” and accept “no” were two important things we learnt as kids and maybe kids don’t say it or hear it often enough today.
Very well expressed Winno. Mother’s are like the ice cream cone, keeps you in shape even when you melt.
Very well expressed Winno. Mothers are like the ice cream cone, keeps you in shape even when you melt.
What a lovely thought Pawan! Like icecream eh.