Capt. Miles Standish had spent much time at his wife Rose’s bedside. As much time, that is, as he could spare from stalking game, fighting off intruders and felling trees to construct homes on shore.
A bitter wind whistled through cracks in the Mayflower, anchored in Plymouth harbor the winter of 1620. Rose’s fever chills turned to uncontrollable shaking. The doctor on board could do little to relieve her. By spring of 1621, only five wives remained out of the eighteen who had sailed to Plymouth. Rose was not among them.
The dreams that Miles and Rose had cherished together had evaporated into hollow hopes. And yet that fall Capt. Standish joined other bereaved Pilgrims in the first Thanksgiving celebration. The real test of thankfulness is whether we can give thanks for what we have, despite the wounds and pains of yesterday’s struggles.
There is much to admire about Capt. Standish and the Pilgrims … their passion, their faith, and foremost apparent to me this year, their resilience. Webster’s Dictionary defines resilience as the “ability to rapidly recover from illness, change, or misfortune”. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity. In the throes of great difficulties, the Pilgrims persisted. This resilience contributed to their survival and eventual success in forming the colonies that we now call the United States of America.
On the topic of resilience, President Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
What are the sources for the resilience valued by President Coolidge and exhibited by the Pilgrims? During eighteen years of experiencing ups and downs of owning a business, I’ve found three reliable sources of resilience:
Purpose Why has Rick Warren’s book The Purpose-Driven Life sold over 20 million copies in three years? People instinctively desire purpose. Purpose provides direction, energy and inspiration. Without purpose, people and organizations feel empty and lost, meandering aimlessly, wasting valuable time and resources. I recall a conversation between Lewis Carroll’s Alice and The Cat:
“Alice: Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a great deal on where you want to go.
Alice: I don’t much care where —
The Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.
Alice: — so long as I get somewhere.
The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that … if you only walk long enough.” (1)
Alice was truly in a wonder-land .. “I wonder what’s my purpose and destination?” Alice would be well-served to read Warren’s 40-day study.
Purpose that produces resilience is not a quick, catchy cliché. Instead, it’s a Statement of Purpose, similar to the one required for entry to a university. SOP’s tell the admissions committee who you are, what has influenced your career path so far, your professional interests and where you plan to go from here. The people who read the statement want to be convinced that you have thought long and hard about whom you are, what you appreciate, what inspires you and what you want out of life.
ICMS’ Statement of Purpose… “help people and organizations improve using the principles of Activity Based Management”… has matured since our inception in 1988. While ICMS’ mission to help customers has remained unchanged, we have purposely changed our tools and techniques. Improving has kept us resilient for 18 years. To see recent improvements, look at our reengineered www.ICMS.net web site and new software product named CostMapper™.
Process Everyone knows that the Indians sold Manhattan Island in 1626 for $24. Few people realize that if the Indians had invested that money at 8% compound interest, they would have $82 trillion today to buy it back.
Rich people use compound interest to grow wealth. Resilient people use compound experiences to grow wisdom, discernment, stamina, and depth of character. They approach life as a growth process, e.g., an opportunity to store up experiences, living today with the end in mind. Resilient people live their personal and professional lives in such a way as to purposely develop a saving’s account full of experiences. They follow songwriter Johnny Burke’s advice fromPennies from Heaven:
Every time it rains it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don’t you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven.
You’ll find your fortune falling
All over town.
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down.
It’s not logical to hold an umbrella upside down, but success is not logical. A process I use to catch both the sunshine and rain is writing a list. Each year, usually during Christmas break, I list all the major things that have befallen me, personally and professionally. Both good and bad. This simple process provides me a way to take control. The list puts me in a position to repeat the good things and eliminate root causes of the stressful things. I got the idea several years ago from Dr. Kenneth Cooper, M.D. who says, “Stress is an inevitable part of daily life. Yet, there is a way to develop a resilience to stress and turn that stress to your benefit.” (2)
Prayer Peter Drucker’s distinguished career as professor of management at Claremont Graduate School, consultant, and author of over 10,000 book pages died at 7:20am on Friday, November 11, 2005. His ninety-five year old body finally gave out. But during those years he gave us so very, very much wisdom, insight and useful advice. According to the Washington Post, “his work influenced Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Jack Welch and the Japanese business establishment.”
During the decade of the 1990’s, many of Drucker’s books and magazine articles recommended use of Activity Based Cost Management (ABM/ABC). But as great as Drucker was for the advancement of business management, he knew there was an even greater resource to look to in times of need. After talking with Peter’s wife the weekend following his death, close friend Bob Buford shared “Doris Drucker told me his last days were consumed with repeating the Lord’s Prayer in German.”
Prayer links us to a source of unlimited power and resilience. “The quality of our horizontal relationships depends entirely upon having a good vertical relationship.” (3) To endure and rebound from adversity requires tapping into a resource greater than ourselves. That resource is God.
Giving Thanks Capt. Standish rebounded from the death of Rose in January 1621, marrying a woman named Barbara in 1623. Miles and Barbara enjoyed many thanksgivings with their seven children until his death in 1656.
What will you do this Thanksgiving? Will material bounty or a catastrophe cause you to neglect thanks? When your clan gathers, will the children, family and friends at the table see you bow your head to give thanks, or merely ask for another helping of dressing and cranberry sauce? They all will be watching, you know. Will they see you too independent or defeated to give thanks? Or will they listen as you give thanks for both the rain and sunshine of the past year? Hopefully they’ll catch a hint that you and I, no matter our circumstances, are serving resilience with thanksgiving this year.
(1) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, Signet (2) Can Stress Heal?, Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997 (3) Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives, Charles Swindoll, W Publishing, 2005
