The Rest is Merely Tenacity!

My friend Maya, whose favorite colors are pink and navy blue, graduated last month. I included these words from Amelia Earhart in the book I made for her graduation gift:

The most difficult thing is the decision to act,
the rest is merely tenacity!

– Amelia Earhart

When I create my work, you may have noticed that I usually include a year after each person’s name. This is the year in which they died, assuming they are deceased. I do that to add a reference point to the words. I think it brings meaning and helps us understand in which time the person lived, died and would have said their words. As for this quote from Amelia Earhart, there is no year to reference, as she is still missing from her last flight. I think that in and of itself is a great reference for her words. She decided to act and the rest was tenacity…even if we never know when or if she landed.

Most of us have things we want to do – travel, earn a degree, paint that bedroom, write a book, get a better job, or even find a life partner. The hard part is not the thing we want, it is getting started. Ideas are a dime a dozen, EVERYONE has a good idea looming out there waiting for them to tackle it…and for many of us, the idea is always looming…it never lands. Some of the people we admire most are the ones who get things done. They travel and tell us of their adventures, they have earned the degree, painted that bedroom, written a book, got a better job, and even found someone with which to spend their days. They have done the things they wanted to do, they made the decision to act.

OOO! You mean to get things done I have to act!?! YES! And that also means you might flub up, make a mess, do it wrong and have to re-do it. It may take longer than you think to get it done, which means you have to keep going even after the exciting emotion of getting started has wained. You may change your mind mid project and go another direction, which means even more decisions to act. You may completely fail, you might win, you might even invent something new. None of that will happen though if you do not decide to act. And have no doubt, action requires a clear decision.

To get that bedroom painted, you have to buy paint! To travel you need to buy a ticket. To earn a degree you have to study, and to find someone to spend your life with you have to BE someone that other person wants to spend their life with. YOU and only YOU can do those things, so no one can do it for you. You have too decide to act and make the thing happen. Remember, action cures fear.

So Maya, as you embark on your future, be sure to dream…and dream BIG! Huge! Enormous!!! The best goals are the scary ones, the ones that make you gulp! Set your sights high and be willing to do the work, which I know you are! And as Amelia Earhart would tell you, decide to act and the rest is merely tenacity!