Book 83 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title – I Will Never Quit on Something I Value!

Book - Never Quit by Glenn Cunningham

Book Description: Autobiography of the record-breaking track star of the 1930's, severely burned in a schoolhouse fire as a child, who later operated a youth ranch for homeless boys and girls.

Reflection:

As I sat in the NICU next to my daughter while reading the book called The Compound Effect, I came across a section of the book where the author, Darren Hardy, was encouraging the reader to think about and define their personal brand? I found it to be an interesting exercise, and I had the time to reflect while in the hospital, so I dove in.

What exactly is your "personal brand"? Your personal brand is how you promote yourself. It is the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see you. It is the telling of your story, and how it reflects your conduct, behavior, spoken and unspoken words, and attitudes. As I was contemplating my personal brand, I couldn't help but to be inspired while looking out over my daughter in her isolate and thinking about all that she was overcoming and enduring in the moment while fighting for her chance at life. I started to write down a lot of ideas as I sat next to her of how I would want to define myself to the world.

The words that immediately came to mind were things like persistence, ball of energy, grit, passionate, and eternal optimist. As quickly as I wrote them down, I erased them as they just didn't seem to fit and encompass everything I wanted to represent to the world. I kept looking at Emilia and what she was going through right in front of my face and I wrote down Never Quit in my journal. I thought, "That's It! That's exactly who I want to represent myself as to this world and to my daughter. I wanted to leave the idea that Chris Sears will never quit as the lasting impression for anyone that knew me or came across my path throughout my life. I wanted the world to know that I was okay knowing that I'm probably never going to be the best at really anything I did in life, but I for sure would see it through and never give up if it was something that aligned with my values. I know that I'm not always going to be the perfect father, husband, son, employee, mentor, leader, coach, tennis player, friend, etc...and I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is if I gave up on that person or activity and didn't keep fighting and doing everything thing I could.

If I say I value something or someone in this life, you can expect that I'm never going away no matter what circumstances are thrust upon me. My relationship with my daughter is the perfect example of my Never Quit brand in action. I value my relationship with her more than almost anything else in my life. This world can go as far as to physically take her from me, but even that won't stop me. I will find a way, even without her here with me in this world, to show up for her every single day for the rest of my life in some capacity. Whether it be through my writing, sharing her story with strangers, talking about her with my family, reading books together, going on a jog together, etc. I will always find a way to show up and never quit on things that I value in this world.

The title of this book, Never Quit, is the only reason why I started this autobiography about Glenn Cunningham, who I knew nothing about. I was searching for something to read that aligned to my newfound personal brand, and Glenn Cunningham's story was exactly what I needed. I learned so much through Glenn telling the story of his own personal "I Can't Imagine" life event of an intense fire as a child that took the life of his brother and nearly took his own. His ability to fight, never quit, and take the lessons he learned through his trials to apply them to all aspects of his life, whether it be as a mentor, runner, father, or husband, is what makes us great as humans. Through our pain and suffering, we can endure and apply those lessons to what we value most in this world to better generations to come.

Glenn's lessons he learned to keep fighting no matter what your circumstances are exactly what Emilia taught me as well. My greatest wish is that if you ever get a chance to know me in this life, that I will lived up to my brand to Never Quit while honoring the stories of all the people that have suffered and endured in this world, like my Emilia and Glenn Cunningham.

Question: What is your personal brand?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Never Quit

YOML Bookstore - Never Quit by Glenn Cunningham