Perseverance

All you have to do is google the name Diana Nyad and you will find out what courage and perseverance can lead to. The LA Times, one newspaper among thousands, is reporting that this Labor Day weekend Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. That's 110 miles. She covered it in 52 hours. Oh, and she's 64 years-old, if that matters ("Diana Nyad completes..."). You can read all the juicy details here, and on thousands of other websites.

The first time I heard about Nyad, I thought she was a nut. I didn't know anything about her, except that last year she failed to complete the Cuba to Florida swim. What I did not bother to find out is that she failed several times before finally completing the swim. I didn't look beyond what I thought was a "failure story." I judged her without bothering to find out more. As I learned more yesterday, I came to realize that she is a world-class athlete and journalist who spends her time swimming, writing, and speaking words of inspiration to anyone who is blessed enough to be within hearing.

What kind of mental toughness does it take to set a world record? What kind of courage and perseverance does it take to fail, not once, not twice, but four times, and still be willing to try again? What does it mean to swim from Cuba to Florida in open waters without the protection of a shark cage? 

For me, Nyad's open swim in treacherous waters is the perfect metaphor for the college experience. She has had access to specialized equipment, lots of highly trained help, and years of training, just like the average college student. In spite of all this help, it was Nyad alone who had to decide that this was her goal. It was Nyad who had to commit herself to years of training, injuries, setbacks and failures. No one could install a high level of commitment into her, like a software download of Human Determination 2.0. It had to come from within her. Like Nyad, you must commit yourself to swim the mysteriously and challenging waters that stretch from here to graduation day. Like Nyad, you must look within yourself to find the courage and perseverance needed to make it to the other shore. 

The good news is that recent research points to mental toughness as a common factor among people who reach their goals. At times it has been a more important predictor of success than even IQ. Angela Duckworth, a research at the University of Pennsylvania, has studied this combination of passion and perseverance and named it "grit." ("The Key to Success"). Watch Angela Duckworth's TED talk on grit here. Then write a post about the how passion and perseverance might help you to succeed in college.

When in doubt in these first days of the semester, as Dory says, "Just keep swimming." 

And count on me for support. Like Bruce, I find that "fish are friends, not food" (Finding Nemo).   

Works Cited

Duckworth, Angela. The key to success? Grit. TED. TED conferences LLC, May 2013. Web. 3 Sept. 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.html>.

Finding Nemo. Dir. Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2003. Film.

Pearce, Matt. "Diana Nyad completes Cuba-to-Florida swim, reaches a lifelong dream." Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 2 Sept. 2013, Nation: n. pag. Los Angeles Times. Web. 3 Sept. 2013. <http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-diana-nyad-20130903,0,3322544.story>.