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Tag Archives: perserverance

Obstacles

12 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

bigger purpose, community, compassion, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, encouragement, Fear, greater good, humanity, joy, kindness, life, Life's like that, loss, love, making a difference, mission, perserverance, Purpose, Relationships, sorrow, trust, vision, world issues

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.

– Vince Lombardi

Two things that stand out to me, when Dad taught me to drive are, don’t let the guy behind you pressure you. Don’t drive faster for him. Drive the speed you feel comfortable with. And, Look where you want to go. Look as far up the road as is visually possible. Don’t look at the sharp corner you’re on. You saw that a while back, you knew it was coming, you’ll get through it.

Sometimes while in the curves life throws at us, we feel the pressures of life pushing us to do something we’re not comfortable with. We can’t take our eyes off the current situation. We’re looking for a quick fix. It is then when we must fight the urge to focus on the trouble we’re in and keep our eyes on where we’re headed.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Perspective: Maybe God is taking you through troubled waters because your enemy can’t swim.

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Oh How My Heart Leapt For Joy

29 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

200 words, Alberta, Calgary, Canada, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, endurance, Gratitude, happy, joy, life, living in the moment, perserverance, summer

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. – Johann von Goethe

IMG_20150827_075614_edit1_editLast week Calgary was under a smoky, hazy sky.

We were warned to keep our windows shut in our homes and keep the vents closed in our cars.

The haze was a result of fires burning in Washington and BC.  The poor air quality registered off the index.

Some days, I could taste smoke on my tongue.

On the news they compared pictures of Hong Kong and Calgary’s Deerfoot; the main highway that runs north and south.

The images were indistinguishable from each other.

I wasn’t happy about the last vestiges of summer being diffused by smoke, but was amazed by how quickly it became the norm for me.

Something to simply be endured.

The sun during the day and the moon during the night were often red or orange and looked like a scene out of a Sci-fi movie; an other worldly picture of a faraway planet.

Magical, perhaps even beautiful in its own way.

But oh how my heart leapt for joy when the sun’s beautiful light broke through the haze on Friday!

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

IMG_20150828_183936_edit

On Friday the sun broke through the haze

Pushing Through…

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 35 Comments

Tags

200 words, believe, courage, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, endurance, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, life, perserverance, Purpose, strategy

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~ Newt Gingrich

images6H6ZKLGWWhen I saw the above quote on my Twitter feed, I felt encouraged!

I’ve never minded putting in the hard work it takes to get something I really want.

In fact, I had a boss who called me a workhorse!

My struggle comes when I’ve done everything I know to do and my desired outcomes do not come to pass.

More accurately, when my desired outcomes do not come to pass – immediately.

Patience may be a virtue, but it’s not naturally one of mine.

But I’ve been learning, over the last few years, to trust the process. To do what I can and then wait. Wait for the pieces to fall into place or for better pieces to reveal themselves.

I’m learning that some things take time to germinate.

They need to ferment like a good wine.

The yeast takes time to rise the bread before it can be baked.

Learning to walk and talk and drive a car takes practice.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Where do you get stuck? How do you push through?

Difficult Things, Impossible Things

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 44 Comments

Tags

200 words, courage, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, discourage, dreams, encourage, focus, perserverance, vision, words are powerful

Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. ~ Andre A. Jackson

You have a dream, a vision of what can be.

Image by Kaiser.net

Image by Kaiser.net

Some folks who mean well will believe in you, in your gifts and share your vision of the future.

They may even come alongside you to help bring it to fruition.

Others who also mean well may try to reason with you, they’ll tell you it’s too difficult, maybe impossible.

This often comes from a place of genuine concern, they want you to take the road well-travelled, to get your head out of the clouds, they want you to be OK.

And others may want you to just plain fail for their own personal reasons.

Words are powerful.

They have the power to encourage and discourage.

When a dream matters to you, I mean really matters – it is likely to be an uphill battle – brace yourself.

If you decide to follow your dream, have courage and stay focussed.

It’s just when you think you can’t press on, that you are standing on the threshold of realizing your dream.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Don’t give up

Dreams, Dragging my Butt, Whiteboards and Other Stuff

24 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Hump Day Chronicles, In My Opinion, My Stories

≈ 58 Comments

Tags

community, courage, Diana Schwenk, dragging my butt, dream, fear of failure, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, mission, passion, perserverance, Purpose, vision

It is our vulnerability that connects us. It is our doubts that make us question what is and prompt us to dream what can be. ~ Schwenkism

It feels like forever ago I hinted at moving in a new direction. Forever ago I boldly announced I was going to follow my dreams, even if no one else believed in them. Even if their direction meant I’d be swimming against the current.

Big words. Big dreams. Yet empty and void as far as taking action. I’ve been dragging my butt and thinking up a million other things I could be doing just to avoid these next steps. I’ve come up with a million excuses as to why my dreams are foolish to protect myself from failure.

I admit it.

I’m not always as tough as I let on. I’m not always as ‘together’  and self-assured as I appear (or try to appear).  And it’s entirely possible, the only person I have fooled in the last few months is ME.

So here I am. Naked before you. Vulnerable. And that’s OK.whiteboard

And amazingly enough, it’s no where as scary as I had imagined.

In fact, it’s a good and honest place to start!

And starting is exactly what I have begun to do.

My first step was to buy a whiteboard. I’m a visual ideas person and when I’m not able to brainstorm with a team, I use a white board.

It helps me plan. It facilitates a creative process for me: I write on it, step back, read what I’ve written, erase, write some more…well you get the picture!

Ultimately my goal is to develop a plan that will lead me into the next phase of my career and personal life.

Thankfully, I already have my vision and mission statement. So this week I spent some time reflecting on and documenting the following:

Things I love

  • brainstorming
  • public speaking
  • speaking to media
  • recognizing and utilizing the gifts in others
  • meeting people
  • listening to varying perspectives
  • exploring new ideas
  • telling stories
  • being active, getting enough sleep and eating right

I am

  • genuine
  • a collaborator
  • community builder
  • spontaneous
  • risk taker
  • team player
  • leader
  • generalist/applied visionary
  • mission driven
  • passionate
  • persuasive
  • encourager

I thrive

  • within a team
  • in a creative and open environment
  • appreciative inquiry
  • quick-paced environment
  • when free to manage my time

Skills and strengths

  • Direct mail campaigns
  • relationship building/stewardship
  • donor centric written/verbal communication
  • project strategies
  • analysis of appeals and response rates
  • mediation
  • team building
  • mentorship

This is not an extensive list by far and I’ve only intentionally included the things I enjoy. It is a first step, an inventory of sorts that will eventually propel me to the way I want to live, love and work.

My next steps include:

  • combining and looking for themes in the feedback graciously given to me by my colleagues at my previous positions and incorporating that information.
  • The Vision, Mission and Philosophy of a new blog I will be launching (soon I hope)  called The Other Bottom Line.  This blog is meant to be a resource for those in the non-profit world and may include discussion formats, best practices, guest bloggers, interviews, etc. More on that in a later post.

As a Doer, I’m excited to be moving on this and will use my Wednesday Hump Day Chronicles  posts to keep you updated.

I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you including, but not limited to Elizabeth and Kina for your vulnerability, courage and action, Bulldog for your guts in starting a new business, mrsfringe for your perseverance to become a published author, and Louise your recent posts gave me that final push I needed to get the ball rolling. Thank you ALL so much!

It is my hope that sharing my process for the next little while will be just as inspiring to someone out there as your journeys have been to me.

To all of you let me leave this final thought: As awesome as your achievements are, it is your struggling, your doubting, your continuing anyway-ness that make you inspiring and remarkable.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I am SO open to your thoughts and tips

Feel free to leave them below

Talk to Diana


"I RELATE WITH, PROMOTE AND SPEAK COMMUNITY WHEREVER I AM..."

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