Don't You Dare Give-up: Four Keys to Completing the Journey

Faces of Auburn Avenue: My friend Alton

One of the keys to the struggle is to keep on doing the work when you doubt that the work you are doing is any good or making a difference.  Being in higher education is an interesting profession. Sometimes I feel like I am not reaching my students.  I come to class, give out assignments, read papers / projects and say to myself, “You are failing these students.”  In times like these I don’t give up but rather I try to do four things that I learned while reading the book Maynard Jackson  a biography written by Robert A. Holmes.  Dr. Holmes reported that when staffers brought issues to Mayor Jackson they had to have the following:

1.     Identify the problem(s)

2.     Describe condition(s)

3.     Discuss alternative solution(s)

4.     Make recommendation(s)

I took this advice to heart and I have continually applied it to my life when I run into obstacles.  I have to work and think my way out of the situation because quitting is not an option.  After reflection I regain my direction and continue the work.  I refuse to fail my students by not being the professor the creator designed me to be..I am called to this work and I take my divine assignment very seriously.

In my present project Faith in Sweet Auburn: The Next Chapter I hit a creative roadblock. I am so emotionally and creatively committed to this project and when I hit the roadblock I was devastated.  I was stuck in pity mode for a weekend and then I went through my four step process, developed a creative action plan and began the work anew. I have found renewed joy in recommitting myself to this work a new.  This new commitment is not about trying to do what I was doing but only doing it better. My new commitment is to do what I am doing in a different more radical / creative way.  I find inspiration in trying to do things differently than I had before.  I changed my approach, which changed my view and this in-turn has made the work look and feel differently.

I offer this to you as you may hit that roadblock sometimes and think it means stop or quit.  I think roadblocks are erected for us to find another way; they are detours not stop signs.  What is in your road?  What is standing in your way?  What is taking your energy and how are you going to deal with it?  Are you going to stop and quit your journey or are you going to find another way so that you can complete the assignment given to you by the creator?

The work continues!

The New Atlanta Streetcar and the bust of John Wesley Dobbs