I saw a football player from the University of California with a saying on the front of his T-Shirt that I liked. It read, “The Toughest Team Wins”. Now I realize that particular saying is focused on the game of football, however I believe that it’s also true concerning the game of life. You had better be ready to play every single day! That’s the kind of world we live in today where you have to bring your very best every day no matter what the profession you’re in. No matter if you are a bank teller, warehouse worker, teacher, coach or the president of a major corporation; you had better bring your best to the table every day. Life demands it; however isn’t that the way it should be?

Here’s what I mean. We can’t get better as individuals in todays world if challenges and adversities are not in front of us. I know you’ve heard the saying, “what doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger”. If we want to be a success in this life, whether it’s in the area of being a better father, husband, mother, wife, better in our finances and at our profession we must strive to get better every day no matter what!

To help us along the way, to have that toughness to do battle every day, I like what someone shared with me once, a long time ago, ---and that is the “3 P’s”.

PURPOSE / PASSION / PRIDE

PURPOSE: Life is hard so we must be hard on ourselves, and we do that by having PURPOSE in our life! When you have Purpose you wake up each morning with a little more Zing in your step, a little more energy. You’re looking forward to facing the challenges that are before you even if you are afraid of not knowing what the future might bring—that’s called Courage. The people who are facing Cancer or someone who has just lost a loved one, yes they are afraid and unsure, yet they continue to fight! When one has Purpose they know what they want and that’s to do their best and get better every single day at whatever that goal is that they are trying to reach!

PASSION: What determines your success? It’s not your circumstances; it’s not what has happen to you in the past, your family situations, NO-- what determines your success is YOU! You are the determining factor to either your success or your failure and to help you along the way towards that success is another key component called PASSION! We are not made just to be at home and sit in front of the TV all day and night.-- No we all are on a divine mission and that is to make a difference in this world in one way or another and we do that by having Passion. That’s what separates the haves from the have not’s! The Passion to get up no matter how many times we have been knocked down. To get up again and again and keep going until we reach our desires. Having Passion is what gives us the love of what we do and doing everything to the best of our ability. To keep getting better and better at what we do and striving for excellence comes from the amount of Passion we have! You’ve heard of the phrase. “The Passion that burns inside of You”. Usually that’s in a Love story—and that’s for another article (by someone else), but it’s true! Passion does burn inside of you, it has always been with you—you just have to find it, and when you do watchout, things will happen!

The last of the 3 P’s is PRIDE: No matter what the task before is, one must have pride in what they are doing, or in other words, whatever you do, perform the Task to the best of your ability. Why is having Pride so important? Because we only have one shot at this, this thing called life. Pride is what will help us get through the hard times. Having Pride is the fuel that gives us Purpose and Passion. Without having Pride the Purpose and Passion won’t last. It’s the cornerstone that holds those two together. I’m not talking about acting Prideful that leads to being boastful. I am talking about knowing that the job that you accomplished no matter how big or small, was done with you giving 100% of everything you had to get the job done right. Having Pride will help you fight through and give you the toughness not to give up and to finish strong.

There is also one more ingredient I’d like to add in helping one to find the toughness to endure and continue the fight and to help find success along the way, and that my friend is Faith. What are your Spiritual Beliefs? Only you can answer that but even the atheist believes in something. I do know that the right kind of Faith can move mountains, and can give someone Hope when there seems to be no Hope. And Hope is most certainly what everyone desires and needs today!

So remember what that T-Shirt says when tough times are upon us, and for sure they will be upon us. Tough times are inevitable but Failure, well that’s an option.

“Pray like everything depends on God, but Work like everything depends on you!”

Chip Sigmon CSCS, USAW, CMTF