Destined for Success Now
  • Home
  • Successful Businesses
  • Resources
  • Veritas Coaching
  • Contact Us

Stockdale Paradox...is for everyone!

4/3/2010

0 Comments

 

Stockdale Paradox...a Paradigm for Difficult Times

Picture
Stockdale (second from left) one week before his release
James Stockdale.  The highest ranking naval officer in the Hanoi Hilton (read: Prisoner of War Camp, Vietnam War)

If you think you have it bad, you think life is tough, if you are considering that it is time to quit...then you need to consider the story of James Stockdale. Check out the following excerpt from Wikipedia on Stockdale;

In a business book by James C. Collins called Good to Great, Collins writes about a conversation he had with Stockdale regarding his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp.[6]

"I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."[7]

When Collins asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:

"Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."[7]

Stockdale then added:

"This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”[7]

Witnessing this philosophy of duality, Collins went on to describe it as the Stockdale Paradox.

So what does this mean to you.  In short, when tough times come and they surely will, you must confront the brutal facts as well as confirm your faith that with God on your side that you will prevail in the end.

Picture
Stockdale with his wife and three sons whom he had not seen in seven years.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Success is...

    Our dream is to see you live to your full potential. Success is defined as doing your personal best each day.  You can do it!

    RSS Feed

    Success Topics

    All
    24 Hour Rule
    All Things Work For Good
    Be An Asker!
    Change Your Thinking Or Else
    Choose Character
    Choose Your Friends
    Face Your Giants
    Forgiveness
    How To Predict Your Future Financial Success
    Its The Revenues
    Just Crazy Enough
    Just Start It
    Keep It Visual
    Let It Be
    Live Without Fear
    Mba Syndrome
    Money Allocation...the Jewish Way
    Owe No Man Anything
    Pursue Excellence
    Respect All - Love All
    Rockefellers L-Word
    Small Things Matter
    Sowing And Reaping
    Stockdale Paradox...a Paradigm For All Times
    Sundown Rule
    Team Is The Only Thing
    The Emperors New Clothes
    The Great Man Is Dead
    The Power Of 2nd Chances
    The Power Of Oneness
    The Story Is Not Yet Finished
    Think Longterm Alwayscdcc6ae31b
    To Blame Or Not To Blame
    Welcome To Canada
    What Everest Can Teach You
    What I Learned From Arnold
    Who Am I51d8e8fa91
    Without The Acceptance Of Riskadf83a77b6
    Work Is My Play
    Your Best Work Now904e8bbf05

    Archives

    May 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    January 2017
    July 2015
    October 2013
    September 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    November 2011
    August 2011
    April 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009

Destined For Success Now on Facebook
Photos used under Creative Commons from Walmart Corporate, faungg