Tenacity is one of my favourite words. When I was a contract IT technical writer my clients would describe me as tenacious. This was because I understood that I was about 56th on the priority list of my sources of technical information for the documents I was contracted to write. So I just stuck at it. When I couldn’t get the information I needed from them I made up what I thought was close to the point, knowing it was wrong and get them to review it. Their manager knew what I was doing so my butt was covered if they complained and I went through 2 – 3 hour review meetings of being told how wrong I was. I developed tough skin and just accepted that to get something done you had to be tenacious.
Why am I rabbiting on about that? Simply because I take being tenacious about things as perfectly normal, I had to be that way to get the job done and get paid. But I’m starting to realise a lot of people aren’t tenacious, they give up.
I’ve been thinking about tenacity lately because I’ve been given examples of it. I’ve been watching that horribly titled but interesting reality TV show “The Biggest Loser” (I loathe the idea of calling someone a loser – such a horrible, nasty, cruel thing to say and as if someone has the right to say that of another).
An interesting scene showed the four remaining women contestants discussing their experience of the program. Most had lost about 30 – 35 pounds (15 kg) each and had new faith in themselves. What I found most interesting and inspiring was the comment “I’m choosing to stick to it” (paraphrase).
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