With determination you can accomplish anything. Even to bring home the cows!

Welcome back!

Determination is the secret ingredient to most happy endings. As a pre-teen I wished to be enrolled in a ballet class that took place once a week on Sundays. My parents told me I wasn’t allowed to take the class. I thought to myself, “Very well, then I’ll just go watch the class.” I took the bus every Sunday. I went to the Ballet class and sat outside the class room and I watched through the windows until the class ended, then I took the bus home. I did this every week for 2 months. One day I was sitting there watching the class, the elevator door opened and in comes my father. He walked up to me and said let’s go. We walked to the bus stop and got on the bus ride home. Not a word was said. It was very quiet. Suddenly my father broke the silence. He said to me, “OK! You can take the class!”

 

When I was in my early twenties I started a computer business out of the living room of our home. I made 100 cold calls a day and got nothing but rejections. I was hung up on, screamed at: nothing but total abuse! I did this for 2 weeks straight until I got my first sale. I sold a floppy drive for a whopping $14.00. I hung in there and eventually that became a multi-million dollar corporation. After 13 years, I sold that corporation for a very lucrative price.

 

In my mid 30’s one of my old ballet injuries became increasingly worse. I was told I needed to have a very invasive surgery. I had 2 different surgeons’ opinions. They were both the same. I broke down and scheduled the surgery for 4 months later. I told the surgeon I was going to do intensive therapy for the 4 months. I asked that the surgeon perform an x-ray on me the day before the surgery SO that we could see if my 4 months of therapy made any progress. The surgeon said, and I quote, “You can do therapy until the cows come home, it is not going to make any difference.” I insisted that we schedule a X-ray. I left the Doctor’s office and I started to do my therapy work. I did it 7 days a week. And 3 times a week I drove an hour and a half each way to work 2 hours with the best therapists. Rain or shine I never missed.  4 months later on my pre-operation appointment, my surgeon and I met again. I asked for my X-ray and he replied, “No time today, and the surgery is tomorrow.” I demanded that they fit me it for an x-ray that day and I sat in the waiting room. 4 hours later I was back in the surgeon’s office and he had my x-ray in hand. We had a 30 second chat, and he said, “I don’t know what you were doing but your patella has lined up correctly since the last visit. When you need the surgery again you can come back to me.”

 

What do you know? The cows came home!

 

Determination has always served me well. And I cannot think of one successful person who lacks determination.

 

Giovanna Garcia

1 Comment