The Will to Succeed

The true character of a person is often revealed in the face of adversity.

When the odds are against you, how do you respond?

Do you make excuses to justify the seemingly inevitable outcome? Or do you fight against all odds?

My wife, Ioana, just finished her 1st quarter of grad school. She was working full-time AND pursing her doctorate degree.

Bad idea: she failed the 1st midterm.

She had to average 80% on the final two tests or she’d be forced to drop out.

So, she quit her job to study more.

Her 2nd midterm was better, 75%, but now she’s really in trouble.

Her professor and academic advisor called a meeting. She must get 90% on the Final to pass the class.

Oh, and the Final is cumulative. Damn.

In the professor’s 20+ years of teaching he’s only seen 1 student recover from such a deep academic hole. The advisor urged Ioana to drop out now so that the failing grade wouldn’t appear on her transcripts (which would destroy her chances of getting accepted again), and then re-apply… next year.

RE-APPLY. NEXT YEAR. And there’s no guarantee that she even get accepted again.

She called me sobbing. Her dream of becoming a doctor seemed, at best, delayed another year and, at worst, completely crushed.

She had two options: give up and try again next year… or risk it all and fight for something that she’s worked so hard for.
She decided to fight.

Over the next 3 weeks she studied. Hard. All day, every day.

She took Final and was left mentally, physically and emotionally drained. Now she waits. Grades would be posted at 10pm the same evening.

Then, just before 10pm she got an email from her professor.

“This can’t be good,” she thought.

“Congrats, Ioana. You did it.”

She passed. An eruption of emotion poured out as she realized what she had accomplished.

Although what she did was incredibly difficult, it wasn’t impossible.

So often we don’t even try to achieve a goal because we *think* it’s impossible.

All we can give is our best effort and, if it’s meant to be, it will.

As it turns out, for Ioana, it is.

And it can be for you, too.

But you can’t be afraid to fail. Your dreams are worth fighting for.

So, fight.