Achilles and His Heel

You may have seen the movie, “Troy,” with Brad Pitt as Achilles, greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War.  What the movie didn’t cover was how Achilles got to be so great.  In Greek mythology, Achilles was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons.  The Fates prophesied that Achilles would die in the Trojan War, but Thetis sought to secure a different destiny for her son.  She took him to the River Styx (the entrance to the underworld), held him by his ankle and dipped him into the water.  As a result, Achilles became invulnerable everywhere on his body except for the heel with which his mother held him over the river.

Years later, Paris, prince of Troy, abducted the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta.  The Greeks rallied behind the offense and set off with 1,000 ships for Troy.  Despite Thetis’ attempts to prevent Achilles from going to Troy, her son was persuaded by Odysseus to join the effort.  The Greeks lay a long siege to the city.  During the tenth and final year, Achilles was mortally wounded by a well-aimed shot from Paris’ bow.  The arrow struck him in the heel, his only vulnerable spot.

The term “Achilles Heel” has come to mean a weakness that seems small but is in fact potentially fatal.  Many leaders have an Achilles Heel.  Sometimes they know that it exists, and sometimes they are blind to it.  It can go undiscovered for years until they are given a challenge that exposes their shortcoming, but once it is revealed, it is almost always fatal to their forward motion.

Some managers have an Achilles Heel in their ability to deal with people.  Like Achilles, they are tactically superb, receive accolades from high levels, move up through the organization with dexterity and speed, but they leave dead bodies everywhere they go.  As long as they move quickly enough, no one traces the destruction back to them.  But once they reach a spot on the battlefield that will not yield (i.e. get stalled out in a position), those around them begin to make the connections.  And once their Achilles Heel has been located, it’s not long before their enemies use it for advantage.

The best managers identify their Achilles Heel by seeking frequent feedback from all levels and all directions (e.g. through a 360 degree evaluation).  In this way, their enemies become their allies, helping them to identify their weaknesses.  Once they have identified their Achilles Heel, they take steps to strengthen or eliminate their weakness through training, coaching, difficult assignments and other means.  They never allow success to be an excuse for not growing.

 

Behold the Underlying Truth

Pardon my French, but most of us could use a “BUT” reduction (just one “T”).  We use the word much too often (I couldn’t even start this article without one.), and it weakens our message.  Worse, it often contradicts our message.  For example:

“That was an excellent presentation, BUT it could have used a few more examples.”

“You’re doing a great job, BUT I’m disappointed in your recent performance.”

“This project is a great opportunity, BUT I’m afraid it’s too much of a stretch for us.”

What message do you think others would take away from these examples?  …the positive part at the beginning or the negative part at the end?  Most of the time, the word “BUT” acts like a big eraser.  It rubs out whatever comes before it and declares:

Behold the Underlying Truth!

The first part of our message seems insincere and “technique-y.”  It gives the impression of nothing more than a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.  And if the truth be known, that’s exactly the way many of us communicate.  When our true message is negative, we often look for a way to soften the blow.  Those who know us well know the “BUT” is coming.  Instead of listening to what you are saying, they are “BUT watching” – waiting for you to do an about face and wipe out the first part of your message.

If I’ve just described you, the first thing you have to do is to eliminate the insincere from your communication.  It kills your credibility.  The second thing you ought to try is replacing your “BUT’s” with “AND’s.”  It will feel uncomfortable at first, but it becomes easier the more you use it.  Notice the difference in what is communicated in the following revised examples:

“That was an excellent presentation, AND it could be even better with a few more examples.”

“You’re doing a great job, AND I’ve got some suggestions to help you take your performance to the next level.”

“This project is a great opportunity for us, AND it’s really going to stretch us.  Are we ready for it?”

It’s a small adjustment, but it makes a dramatic difference in the message that gets communicated.  When you use “AND,” you maintain the integrity of the first part of your message and you…

Add a New Dimension

You’re still communicating the first part, and you’re helping your listener to see things from a new perspective.  If you want to communicate more effectively, you need to get off your “BUT’s!”

Hustling Errors

In 1992, Jimmy Johnson, then coach of the Dallas Cowboys, cut running back “Swervin’” Curvin Richards after he fumbled in the last game of the regular season.  That in itself wasn’t so surprising.  Coach Johnson had a temper, and he didn’t suffer fumblers lightly.  But what was surprising was that Johnson would cut Richards but defend two other players who made similar mistakes in the same quarter of the same game.

Truth be told, all three mistakes were inconsequential.  Dallas would go on to win the game 27-14 over the Chicago Bears.  They had already secured a bye for the first weekend of the playoffs.  The game was nothing more than a notation in the record books as this particular Dallas team went on to win its third Super Bowl in dominating fashion.

The problem was not that mistakes had been made.  Richards’ fumble did result in a touchdown for the opposing team, but so did Steve Beuerlein’s interception.  Alvin Harper also turned the ball over…and all these happened in the fourth quarter.  So, why didn’t Johnson cut all three players?  Why did Richards alone incur Johnson’s wrath?

According to Johnson, it was because Beuerlein and Harper committed “hustling errors” while Richards simply showed the sloppiness that comes from a poor work ethic.  Beuerlein and Harper were forgiven because they were hustling; they were trying to make something happen.  They were taking risks and trying to get the momentum back for an offensive team that had started to focus their attention on the playoffs before the game had even ended.

Richards, on the other hand, failed to execute one of the fundamentals of his job.  Had he shown more diligence on the practice field, he might have been spared.  But Johnson was irritated with the running back for his lackluster approach to the game.  Johnson used this opportunity to teach his team an important lesson.  There are mistakes, and then there are mistakes.  Mistakes made while taking risks and trying new approaches will be forgiven.  Mistakes made because of poor preparation will not.

The Competence Cycle

As team members learn how to do new tasks, they will go through four predictable stages related to their confidence and competence.  The leader’s role is to help them progress through the four stages without damaging their self-confidence or causing too much risk to the team or organization.

Stage 1 – Unconscious Incompetence At this stage, the performer has little concept of what the task is actually going to entail.  She is incredibly excited about it and feels enormous confidence that she is up to the task.  The problem is that this confidence is rarely based on reality.  The confidence comes from ignorance of the skills, knowledge and hard work necessary to complete the task.  Often, performers feel that success in previous endeavors will guarantee success in this one.  Sometimes they are right, but most often they are not.  The leader should be very specific with a performer at this stage.  It’s important to tell her exactly what, when, where and how a task should be done.  Make expectations crystal clear, and supervise progress closely. Think about the last time you took up a new sport.  I’ll use golf as an example.  You watched it on TV, saw the pros do their thing and thought, “Hey, I can do that!  How hard could it be to hit a ball with a stick?”  So, you go out to a golf course and mortgage your house to play 18.  (You didn’t know it was going to be so expensive!)  You head to the first hole and watch the party in front of you.  Looks easy enough.  Your turn.  You set your tee, work a little bit to get the ball to balance on top of it, and then you take a swing!  You strain your eyes to see your first hole-in-one.  Wow!  Those balls are really hard to see…oh… wait.  No, they’re not.  They show up nicely against the green color of the grass.  You take another swing… and another… and another… This is getting embarrassing.  The party behind you is starting to laugh… and then complain.  Now they are getting hostile.  You’ve just entered… Stage 2 – Conscious Incompetence This stage is typically a huge letdown for performers.  The high expectations they had have not materialized.  The task is harder, bigger, less glamorous, more work, more expensive…you name it.  They’ve made a big step, though.  Just recognizing that they don’t have the skill set or knowledge for the task is the first step toward getting them.  Now they know what they don’t know.  As long as the performer doesn’t regress to Stage 1 (i.e., go into denial about the skills and knowledge they need), you’ve got them right where you want them.  Now that they know they won’t be the next prodigy, they will typically be much more teachable.  What they need from you is encouragement.  Their confidence has been dealt a blow, and they need to know that this is a normal stage…that all experts were once beginners.  Keep the end result in front of them to motivate them through this stage. Now that you know you aren’t Tiger Woods, you have a few choices.  You can give up – golf must be a hereditary skill that you didn’t get in your gene pool.  Or you can keep plugging (divots, that is).  Get a coach, head to the driving range, practice, practice, practice…  With time, instruction and practice, you’ll reach… Stage 3 – Conscious Competence Progress has been made.  The performer has developed the competence to be able to perform the task.  The problem here is that the performer has to really concentrate on the steps to get it done.  He will typically be hesitant and afraid of making mistakes.  He might over-think the process, leading to avoidable errors and frustration.  Your role as the leader will be to be patient and allow him plenty of practice.  He may need a pep talk from time to time to remind him of how far he has come.  If the performer starts making too many mistakes in a row, his confidence could be seriously damaged.  If you start to see signs of demoralization, give him a break so that he can get his mind off all the steps.  When he relaxes, he will perform better. You are now a golfer, but you’re not enjoying it much.  It takes too much thinking.  Eyes on the ball, legs apart, knees bent, eyes on the ball, pull back, eyes on the ball, elbow straight, eyes on the ball, swing, eyes on the ball, WHACK!  You thought golf was supposed to be fun.  Be patient.  Before you know it, you will cross over to… Stage 4 – Unconscious Competence Eureka!  You’ll rarely recognize the transition from Stage 3 to Stage 4 when it happens, but you’ll be able to see it in retrospect.  One day, you’ll observe the performer, and she will be performing the task without even thinking about it.  Be sure to point it out to her, because she will probably be the last to know.  The beauty of this stage is that the new skills and knowledge have been integrated into the performer’s skill set.  She is now the expert that she originally set out to be! When did it happen?  Who knows?  Overnight, you stopped having to think so much about what you were doing.  Now, you can’t wait to get on the greens.  Everybody wants you to join their group for the upcoming tournament.  Tiger called and asked you for some advice. The Competence Cycle is universal.  All experts were once beginners  – even the Tiger Woods of the world.  While some have natural ability, disciplining it to make it work for them is still a learning process.  Use the Competence Cycle to diagnose your performers.  Then, meet them where they are at to help them move to the next level.

The Peter Principle

According to the Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards, Inc., nearly one-third of lottery winners go bankrupt.  There are undoubtedly a variety of reasons, but I have an idea about the root cause.  That which is earned without effort is often beyond our abilities to handle.

Maybe nearly one-third of lottery winners go bankrupt because they have not developed the financial maturity necessary to cope with so much money.  The internet is full of stories of lottery winners who invested in lousy business ventures, lent money to the wrong people, spent the money faster than it came in and even sold their rights to incremental payments for some up-front cash.

In this case, what is true of the lottery is true of leadership.  Those who receive lightning-fast promotions are typically singed in the process.  They rise within the organization faster than their skills develop.  Before long, they find themselves in a position that they can’t handle, and the results are usually messy.  Demotions, terminations, transfers to dead-end positions or dead-end teams, reduced responsibilities, early retirement…  If for some time no one seems to notice a manager’s incompetence, the manager will often try to cover it up.  The more there is at stake (pay, perks, pride, prestige…) the more desperate the manager often becomes to hide his or her struggles.  This can do no end of damage to an organization and its people.

With tongue in cheek, Laurence Peter defined this process as “The Peter Principle,” which states that “in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”  He tells us that the solution is to make sure that the candidate has the skills to do the job in some degree before promoting him or her to do it.  There’s a benefit to promoting people slowly.  While they are in their current job, they should be developing the maturity and the skills they will need at the next level.  They should be making mistakes and learning from them.  (Making mistakes at lower levels of leadership is a lot less costly than making them at the higher levels.)

If you are a leader, a mentor, a coach, a parent….make sure those under your leadership are faithful with small things before you give them larger things.  When they earn it, they will learn it.

All Experts Were Once Beginners

When you recognize this simple fact (that all experts were once beginners), you begin to have a little more patience dealing with those around you.  I’ve shared the following “Competence Cycle” with you once before, but it’s so important, it’s worth revisiting.  As people learn how to do new tasks, they will go through four predictable stages related to their confidence and competence.  The leader’s role is to help them progress through the four stages without damaging their self-confidence or causing too much risk to the those around them.

Stage 1 – Unconscious Incompetence
At this stage, the performer has little concept of what the task is actually going to entail. He is incredibly excited about it and feels enormous confidence that he is up to the task.  The problem is that this confidence is rarely based on reality.  The confidence comes from ignorance of the skills, knowledge and hard work necessary to complete the task.  Often, performers feel that success in previous endeavors will guarantee success in this one.  Sometimes they are right, but most often they are not.

Stage 2 – Conscious Incompetence
This stage is typically a huge letdown for the performer.  The high expectations he/she had have not materialized. The task is harder, bigger, less glamorous, more work…you name it.  They’ve made a big step, though.  Just recognizing that you don’t have the skill set or knowledge for the task is the first step toward getting them.  Now they know what they don’t know.  As long as the performer doesn’t regress to Stage 1 (i.e., go into denial about the skills and knowledge he needs), you’ve got him right where you want him.  Now that he knows he won’t be the next prodigy, he will typically be much more teachable.  What he needs from you is encouragement.  His confidence has been dealt a blow, and he needs to know that this is a normal stage…that all experts were once beginners. Keep the end result in front of him to motivate him through this stage.

Stage 3 – Conscious Competence
Progress has been made.  The performer has developed the competence to be able to perform the task.  The problem here is that the performer has to really concentrate on the steps to get it done.  She will typically be hesitant and afraid of making mistakes.  She might over-think the process, leading to avoidable errors and frustration.  Your role as the leader will be to be patient and allow her plenty of practice.  She may need a pep talk from time to time to remind her of how far she has come.  This is a necessary stage.  If she starts making too many mistakes in a row, her confidence could be seriously damaged. Give her a break so that she can get her mind off all the steps.  When she relaxes, she will perform better.

Stage 4 – Unconscious Competence
Eureka! You’ll rarely recognize the transition from Stage 3 to Stage 4 when it happens, but you’ll be able to see it in retrospect.  One day, you’ll observe the performer, and she will be performing the task without even thinking about it.  Be sure to point it out to her, because she probably won’t have realized it yet.  The beauty of this stage is that the new skills and knowledge have been integrated into the performer’s skill set.  She is now the expert that she originally set out to be!
Let’s see if this applies to even the incomparable Michael Jordan, leader of the six-time national champion Chicago Bulls team of the 90s.   Most would agree that, at the top of his game, Michael Jordan was Unconsciously Competent at basketball.  He could do just about anything he pleased on the court.  He didn’t have to count the number of steps before he made a lay-up (everyone knows he flew from half-court).  He didn’t have to think through his set-up before making the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.  He just did it – Unconscious Competence.

But remember, all experts were once beginners.  There was a time that MJ thought he was better than he really was.  He had the natural talent, but it wasn’t disciplined.  Going into high school, MJ was Unconsciously Incompetent about playing basketball.  Want proof?  Did you know that his game was so undisciplined that he was cut from his sophomore team?

It was a real wake-up call for him, and he moved immediately to Stage 2 – Conscious Incompetence.  But instead of letting that setback defeat him, he used it to motivate and challenge him to move through Stages 3 and 4 until he became the face of basketball (and Fruit of the Loom, and Gatorade, and Nike, and MCI, and …).  He lit up college basketball, was drafted as the #3 pick to the pros after his junior year and reached the pinnacle of his career by winning three, back-to-back national championships with the Bulls.

Then, full of the confidence that comes with incredible success, he decided that the skills that made him the best in professional basketball would also make him the best in professional baseball.  But being an expert in one field doesn’t make a person an expert in all fields.  The expert turned beginner, and MJ had to start the cycle all over again.  First, there was excitement and over-confidence.  Then, a major letdown as he got stuck in the minors with the Birmingham Barons.

Sometimes Stage 2 is enough to convince a performer he is better suited for something else.  MJ decided the following year that basketball was what he was really suited for, and he returned to help the Chicago Bulls win another three back-to-back championships.

Pick any expert in any field, and you’ll find that none of them were born that way.  Even the prodigies had to hone and shape their talent.  If it’s true for the most talented, it’s true for the average performer.  The best leaders know this and meet their performers where they are at.

The Performance Pill

Got a team member who’s a pain in the neck?  Struggling with an employee who gives you headaches?  Suffering some heartburn after hiring someone to fill a position on your team?  You’re in luck!  The clinic is open, and the doctor is in!

Much of the time, we address the symptoms of our problems (the pain in our neck, the headache, the heartburn) rather than their sources.  That approach gives temporary relief, but it usually creates more problems than it solves in the long run.  For example, taking an aspirin deals with the headache, but it does nothing to deal with what caused it.  The headache may have been the warning sign of a more serious problem.  A band-aid may cover up the bruise, but if we keep banging our knee, the bruises will keep popping up.  Dealing with sources rather than symptoms will lead you to better solutions.

I’m going to make a bold claim.  Any performance problem you are struggling with on your team can be traced to one of five sources.  Knowing these sources helps you to quickly diagnose your problems and prescribe treatment.  Together, these sources make up the Performance Pill, a tool for curing what ails your team.  Let’s look at each source individually.  (You’ll notice I’ve taken some rhyming license to make these fit together.  Please don’t accuse me of malpractice.)

INSTILL
“Instill” problems occur when we fail to instill our performers with expectations, knowledge and feedback related to their work.  Many times, our expectations are silent.  We forget to make them clear at the beginning of a task, or we assume that the performer should know them.  Sometimes the performers don’t have enough information to do what we ask them to do.  And sometimes, we neglect to give them feedback about a task to let the performer know if they are on the right track or not.  The solution rests solely on our shoulders for this type of problem.  If we haven’t equipped our performers with expectations, knowledge and feedback, we’ve set them up to fail.

SKILL
“Skill” problems occur when performers have not yet developed the talent to do the task.  The solution is simple.  The performer either needs training or practice (with lots of feedback).  But be careful…this is the most common misdiagnosis for performance problems.  Managers love to send their performers to training to “fix them.”  Why?  Because it’s easy, and someone else will do it for me.  It may be easy, but it’s also expensive – in money, in time and sometimes in your relationship (not everyone wants to be sent to training).

HILL
“Hill” problems occur when an obstacle (something they can’t get over) blocks good performance.  The obstacle could be a system problem, a lack of authority, a policy or procedure, a lack of resources…  Even other people can become obstacles to good performance.  Whatever the “hill” is, it’s out of the performer’s control.  Either you or someone else with the authority to deal with it must move it out of the way.

WILL
“Will” problems occur when a performer doesn’t want to do what you want them to do.  People are not motivated to perform in a certain way for a variety of reasons, but they almost always have to do with consequences.  Sometimes people are rewarded for doing the wrong things.  Sometimes they are punished for doing the right things.  Sometimes, it doesn’t matter one way or the other what they do, because no one notices.  And sometimes it may matter, but it doesn’t matter enough to the performer.  The solution for “will” problems is to make it matter.  Find consequences (both positive and corrective) that the performer cares about, and implement them.  If appropriate consequences are already in place, intensify them.

REFILL
“Refill” problems occur when a performer does not have the ability to do the job or does not respond to increased consequences intended to improve “will” problems.  The solution is to “refill” the position with a candidate who does have the ability and the motivation to do the job.  However, avoid jumping to an early diagnosis in this area.  All other sources should be explored and addressed before coming to the conclusion that a performer is in the wrong job.

Feel better yet?  If not, take two and call me in the morning.

An Incredible Lover

I once had a college professor who would regularly descend into self-interested monologues rather than delivering the content of the course (of course, which one didn’t, right?).  One time, he told us that one of his primary goals as a parent was to help his son become an incredible lover.  This professor was rather impressed by his own sexual prowess and thought his son should be instructed to carry on the legacy.

I know you are probably curious about exactly how he planned to do that, but we were all too creeped out to ask any follow-up questions.  I’m afraid his mentoring strategy will have to remain a secret, but if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think he was a deviant – just odd.

I was reminded of that day in class as I was reading The Purpose Driven Life with my oldest son the other day.  Chapter 16 is “What Matters Most,” and it starts with the sentence, “Life is all about love.”  Rick Warren points out that all the Ten Commandments are about love (the first four about loving God; the last six about loving your neighbor), and he draws from Paul’s writings to emphasize that anything we do without love is worthless.

Mother Teresa said, “It’s not what you do but how much love you put into it that matters,” and the longer I live, the more convinced of this I am.  All my other motives are self-serving, and I know that the things I do for myself are their own reward.  There will be no treasure stored up in heaven for me as a result of the things I do for myself – only for those things I lovingly do for God or for my neighbor.

So I find myself in the very strange position of having the exact same parenting goal as my Don Juan professor – only we are using different meanings of the word lover.  I can think of no better instruction and wisdom to pass along to my children than to help them become incredible lovers – lovers of God and lovers of their neighbors.

Incidentally, I shared this story with my son.  (I enjoy the shock value.)  He was sufficiently grossed out by the professor, and I told him he had no need to worry.  I wasn’t going to be sharing any gritty details about my love life with him – he’ll have to buy the book like everyone else.

Reset the Zero

Believe it or not, heating water from -1/2^OC to +1/2 ^OC (1 degree) requires 80 times the energy that is required to heat water from +1 ^OC to +2 ^OC (1 degree).  Why so much difference?  It’s because changing ice to water (-1/2^OC to +1/2 ^OC) requires a change in state.  When water changes state (from ice to liquid water or from liquid water to steam), all the energy (80 calories) goes into the state change.  None goes into heating the water.

When heating water, it takes 80 times the energy to go from a negative to a positive.  It’s not much different when you are working with people.  For example, consider a scale that ranges from -5 to +5 and measures influencing skills.  If you are coaching someone who feels he is a “-3” on the scale, he’s saying that he feels like he has none of the skill.  He’s so bad at it, that he’s in the negative range.

To coach him to the point that he feels he is on the positive side of the scale is going to require enormous amounts of energy on his part and yours.  He will actually have to go through a “change in state” – from someone who has no influencing skills to someone who has some.  That’s a mental leap across a wide chasm.

But what if you could show him that he already had some of the skill?  (as he most certainly does)  What if your reminded him that he already uses influencing skills when he’s talking to his peers about a common project or when he comes to you to ask for a better assignment.  Then, he doesn’t need a change in state.  He just needs to increase what he’s already got.

With water, once you change from ice to liquid water, all the hard work is done.  It only requires one calorie per degree to heat the water.  With people, the hard work is convincing them that they aren’t working from a state of lack.  They already have all the skills they need; they just need to increase them.  In effect, what you are doing is resetting the zero on their mental scale.  The same amount of influencing skills expressed this way would look like the scale below:

A +2 in the skill is much easier to build on than a -3.  Now, he’s got something to work with.  There’s an influencing skill muscle in there – he just needs to exercise it to make it stronger.

I frequently hear people make statements of lack such as, “I can’t speak in front of people;” “I can’t ever remember names;” “I’m not a people person;” “I don’t have any leadership ability.”  Statements like these allow people to abdicate responsibility for trying to develop these skills.  After all, if you don’t even have the raw materials for the skill, it’s not possible to ever have it.

Show them how they already have some of the skill, and you help them make a huge paradigm shift.  Instead of “strengths and weaknesses,” they start thinking in “greater and lesser strengths.”  Help them to reset their zero, and their eyes will be open to their potential.

(S – http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/heat_ice_steam.htm)

The Thrilla in Manila

On a hot summer night in September, 1975, two men met in a 20’ by 20’ ring near the city of Manila in the Philippines.  It was their third meeting, and it had the world’s attention.  Smokin’ Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali.

Frazier had won the first fight on points in fifteen rounds.  It was Ali’s first loss as a professional boxer, and it was a slugfest.  Both fighters had to go to the hospital afterward, and Frazier couldn’t fight again for another ten months.

Ali had taken the second fight on points in twelve rounds three years later.  Then in 1974, Ali became Heavyweight Champion of the World when he knocked out George Foreman at the “Rumble in the Jungle.”  Thus the stage was set for the Frazier-Ali rematch.

In what has been called perhaps the greatest fight of all time, two boxers brought it all to the ring for fourteen rounds.  Most commentators give the first four rounds to Ali, with his precision hits to Frazier’s head.  The next five are typically said to have been dominated by the powerful and determined Frazier.  But during the last four rounds, Ali pummeled Frazier until he was spitting blood and almost blind because of the swelling around his eyes.  He could no longer even see the punches coming.

When the fourteenth round ended, both fighters stumbled to their corners.  Ali told his corner team to cut off his gloves and throw in the towel.  He had taken 440 blows from one of the best fighters in the world.  He was dehydrated by the heat and so weak that he could hardly stand.  Later he would say that the fight was “the closest thing to dyin’ that I know of.”  But instead of cutting off his gloves, Ali’s trainer ignored him.  He wiped his face and sponged him down to prepare him for the final three minutes of the fight.

Could Ali have gone one more round against Frazier?  No one knows for sure.  At the same time Ali was asking his trainer to “cut ‘em off,” Frazier’s trainer was evaluating his fighter.  When the bell rang for the fifteenth and final round, Frazier tried to get up, but his trainer, concerned for the fighter’s health, stopped him, cut off his gloves and said, “Sit down, son.  It’s all over.  No one will ever forget what you did here today.”

As someone has said, “Failure is the path of least persistence.”  You never know.  Sometimes the forces you are up against are just about to “cut off the gloves.”  Sometimes the Enemy is just as exhausted and discouraged as you are.  While you’ve been taking a beating, keep in mind that He may just be watching to see whether or not you will quit first.  A show of determination and persistence may be all it takes to convince him that you can’t be beat, that you’ve tapped into a limitless Power Source that guarantees your ultimate success.

Keep fighting the good fight, and encourage those around you to do the same.