How to be more Tenacious

Recently I was hired by a corporate client to kick off a two day conference. The theme of the conference was Tenacity.

In my presentation I offered five ways that my audience (primarily consisting of field sales executives) could be even more tenacious. Tenacity could also be substituted with resilience or overcoming adversity. Before I finished they had each identified their favourite out of the five and had made a commitment to working on it immediately.

Here are all five and a brief insight into each.

1.   When you hit a wall - focus on your why.

Often in pursuit of a goal, we will hit an obstacle or two. At this time we tend to focus on what we have to do or on how we are going to get through this wall. (Eg: You lose a big client and now you have to go and find two to replace them)

To reignite them I encouraged them to reconnect with why this goal was being pursued - what was the purpose or the outcome they desired. For this client the why was that lives would be improved or saved. (The product they bring to the market improves and saves lives). I encouraged them to remind themselves of this fact and the people whose lives would benefit as a consequence of their commitment to staying strong. Tapping into your why will most likely stir emotion in you. Emotion creates motion and that is where your tenacity to keep going will come to your aid.

2. Don’t judge your year on one phone call

One day I was in the car and a client called to cancel a contract I was sure I had in the bag. After we finished the call, my mood plummeted. As I was on a long car journey I thought long and hard about how to lift myself. Then it came to me. I told myself not to judge my year on one phone call but rather to judge it on the average outcome of all of the phone calls I have in the year. When I began to think deeper I realised I have always got those difficult phone calls since I first opened a business in 2003 but they had always been heavily defeated in number by phone calls with good news. It goes for emails, conversations or feedback on your product too. Judge your year on the sum of all of the calls, all of the emails, all of the conversations or feedback - not just on one. If you do, I’m confident you will see that the good far outweighs the not so good.

3. Focus on what you have

For my audience I drew out a nine times tables on a flipchart where I went as far as nine times seven. Then I started to fill in the answers but I deliberately got one of the nine wrong. Immediately they became very vocal in pointing out my error. To bring my third strategy to life I asked them why they only wanted to talk about the one I got wrong instead of complimenting me on the six out of seven I had correctly answered. If this were a maths exam, I asked them what scorer would I have got? They admitted I would have got an A.

The point here is that that so many things can be right in our business or in our lives but when something (just one perhaps out of many) goes wrong, we become consumed with that. If you want to be more tenacious, write a list of what’s right in your business and in your life and reconnect with it when something goes wrong. Yes you might be keen to fix the one that’s broken but it’s your brain that makes that happen. Having a list in front of you of what’s right will mean you are starting in a very positive frame of mind.

4. Take a compliment

Here I got them to write a very personal list of things under a very specific heading. The idea was that in the future when they hit a wall, they would agree to take out this list and to reconnect with it. If they were willing to take the compliment, it offered them clear evidence of just what tenacity they possessed.

The list comprised of things they had already achieved in their lives that took significant effort and/or that they were very proud of. This might be things like a university qualification, securing a dream job over other candidates, a large contract they had secured, overcoming a health related challenge themselves or where they helped someone else through one. I shared that my list includes a D in Pass Maths in my final year school exams, (maths was a huge challenge to me) overcoming a pathological fear of public speaking (rather ironic given my business now) and getting myself through the economic downturn of 2008-2012. I asked them to rate their previous successes in terms of difficulty and of what it had taken to achieve it. (5 meant it took a good bit to do to achieve it it, 8 meant it took a lot and a 10 meant it took everything) My three items listed above have the numbers 8, 9 and 10 in there. 

In future, if they hit a wall, I encouraged them to reconnect with the list and to give their new problem or obstacle a number compared to what they had already achieved. How hard will it be compared to what you’ve already accomplished? I asked them. If the new number wasn’t greater than the highest number on their list of previous achievements, then they had evidence they had the tenacity to get through this.

5. Have people (in your goal) who inspire you

I recall nine years ago I was immersed in preparing for a big sporting ambition. It took two years to get ready during which I hit many walls and I had many low days where I either doubted myself or I just needed a lift. Each time I hit a wall, I brought an image to life of someone who inspired me. I had specifically linked this person to this goal before I set out on it. That person was someone who had attempted something similar but had also passed away at a very young age. This person (when I first heard their story years before) inspired me to the point that I vowed never to forget them. Every time I brought them to life (in my mind) in that two year journey, they never failed but to lift me. Have people in your life and in your goal that will be the inspiration to lift you if you need lifting. They will stir tenacity in you like you wouldn’t believe.

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So which is your favourite? I encourage you to take one and let that be your ‘go to’ tenacity strategy.

I’m confident it will carry you through or over any walls you might encounter.

Gerry Duffy is a professional speaker specialising in Performance and Leadership Programmes. His clients include Proctor and Gamble, British Gas, Aer Lingus, Norvartis Pharmaceuticals and Coca Cola. Check out gerryduffyacademy.com.