The weekend is upon you. You made it to the end of the week but the real question is what the end of the week means for you. Is it time to “let go” and live loose? After all, it is Super Bowl weekend. A time that you could give in to drinking, eating poorly, and losing all self-control in the name of a game played by teams you probably don’t cheer for. Trust me, I love the Super Bowl and I plan to watch it but I’m not willing to let it wreck my goals or progress. I wonder instead if this weekend is an opportunity to live with tenacity.
Last weekend, my Brothers LIFE Council got together for our first Six Month Affirmation. We revisited our commitments to LIFE from the summer retreat and held each other accountable for the rest of the year. A single word came up more than once: tenacity.
I’ve used the word before but had never thought much of it. We usually use it to describe someone who won’t back down in a sort of arrogant way, “that lawyer was tenacious with that witness” (or to describe Jack Black’s awesome band inspired by “tenacious defense” in a famous basketball call).
I decided to look into the actual meaning. Definitions of tenacity include:
- Not readily relinquishing a position, principle, or course of action; determined.
- Persisting in existence; not easily dispelled.
If you look up “books about tenacity” you get some boomers. Mark Manson’s, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck and Girl, Wash Your Face from Rachel Hollis top the list. There must be something to this idea of persistence and tenacity in all areas of our life because both are best-sellers.
The LIFE Council had talked about our relationships, training, and employment at the point “tenacity” entered our conversation. We had started our day with a workout at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater that required us to be tenacious to finish it. I got to thinking, “what would LIFE with tenacity look like?” It would mean we were persistent through challenges and firm on our creed (insert shameless plug for my earlier post here) no matter what day of the week it is.
This weekend, consider it for yourself. If you loved others with tenacity, what would that mean? I can promise it wouldn’t mean hiding out in your garage working on something while your family went out to dinner. I also know that having tenacious integrity wouldn’t let you put your commitment to health aside to “enjoy the game” and go off the rails. You’d definitely pick up the phone to check on that friend that called you earlier this week about an issue with his spouse. I think you would get out Saturday morning and do your workout to chase excellence even if it starts to snow and your warm bed feels amazing.
My LIFE Council taught me last weekend that to be fully alive in love, integrity, fellowship, and excellence you need tenacity in all aspects. You have to be consistent and you have to show up even when you don’t want to. If anything, you should border on being annoying to people you love and believe in. If people’s biggest complaint about me is, “dang, Ryan just won’t leave me alone about my goals” I’ll take that all day, every day.
Enjoy the weekend with the tenacity to better your life and relationships. If you train, train hard. If you go to dinner with family, put your phone away for tenacious focus on them. If you hang out with friends for the game, ask them real questions about their life and dig in.
Live well. Live tenaciously.