Despite setbacks, stay focused on what motivates you.
Aleck was born into a wealthy, famous family. It would have been easy for him to just hide under the family security blanket and follow in the footsteps of his illustrious relatives.
To Aleck that was not an alternative he could live with. At the age of 11, Alexander Graham Bell began to forge his own life.
To Graham, as he preferred to be called, he could no more stop inventing than he could stop eating. The search for answers to questions was a calling he could not avoid. To some this was a quality greatly criticized by others—investigating things of interest without seeming to accomplish much—but for Graham, this dominant trait led to remarkable success later in life.
The quest that held the most interest for Alexander Graham Bell was the search for a means of transmitting vibrations from one location to another. His mother and wife were deaf from childhood accidents, so the transmission of sound through the use of vibration was very important to him. He referred to this dream as his “harmonic telegraph.”
He realized that he alone did not possess all the knowledge necessary, so he acquired the help of a brilliant young electrician named Tom Watson. Together they would perform the “miracle heard round the world.”
In the time preceding this miraculous discovery, Graham continued to teach and lecture as he pursued his dream. There was much room for doubt and discouragement as critics belittled Bell and Watson for attempting something so utterly ludicrous. Even Bell himself began to doubt a bit. But as he later wrote, “It is easier for an inventor to stop breathing than to discontinue trying.”
His diligence finally paid off, and with the majestic refrain of “God Save the Queen” and the simple greeting, “How do you do?” the first telephone was born. Alexander Graham Bell was a man who knew what he wanted out of life and went after it relentlessly.
Ask yourself: What drives or motivates you? Is your job aligned with your career and life goals? How do you stay on track despite setbacks? What is your level of persistence and tenacity? Aligning your day-to-day activities with your long-term objectives will increase your productivity and happiness.
You may not be driven to invent, but staying focused on what motivates you and your people will bring about a harmonic and productive persistence—and your entire organization will benefit!
Here are some points for consideration:
What are some of the barriers you are bumping into that impede your progress?