Coming back from a loss, defeat or failure is one of the hardest things in life to do. In our personal life or our work life it is hard to come back from a setback like not being chosen, not being hired, losing an account, not making the sale, relationship break up, divorce, bad heath report and the list could go on for pages. In my simple way of thinking we really have three options when negative life events happen. Option one is to quit, option two is not care anymore and option three (my personal favorite) is to double down and try even harder the next time.

I was with a hotel development firm last week and he told me one of the greatest stories I have ever heard. They build and own hotels and he had this building contractor that kept calling him and coming by to see him. He brushed him seven times and the eight time he showed up at his office, he said ok, I must meet this guy. Long story short, they met, liked each other and developed 80 hotels together after that eight time he stopped by. What if the contractor had stopped at seven and quit trying? Well, we know the answer.

In 2008 and 2009, the economy was falling apart and I believe we got only six hotels closed that year. We lost a bunch of money and it seemed that every deal would get started good and then fall apart one after the other. I had one of my friends ask me, “Keith, how do you keep going forward when everything we do seems to fail.” I answered him “keep trying is the only thing I know to do because if I quit trying, we might as well close up shop and go home.” That friend kept trying and weathered the downturn just like we did and has done well in the business but that day when he came to me, if I had told him I was ready to quit, he would have gladly joined me in the unemployment line.

In the bible, one day Jesus said something that caused a big stir and half of his followers walked away from him. Jesus looked at his 12 disciples and said “If any of you want to quit too, you can leave now.” Ha.

In business, life and sports there are more examples of how perseverance and staying the course, helped people get through the tough times and enabled them to succeed. So, back to the options listed above. Do you quit, stop caring anymore or double down and persevere your way through? I don’t know about you, but I choose to keep trying. KT