Stockdale Paradox...a Paradigm for Difficult Times
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.
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.
Stockdale with his wife and three sons whom he had not seen in seven years.
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