Focus Forward Survival Skills: Character, Perseverance and Determination

If you’re a basketball fan, you’ve probably heard of Austin Hatch. He is a two-time plane crash survivor who is the only remaining survivor of his immediate family. His mother, father, stepmother and two siblings were killed in the two crashes. The second crash in 2011, left him clinging for life.

Now, I think I’m a pretty strong solider, but after two plane crashes, and losing my entire family, I’d be tempted to throw myself a little pity party. Yet this high-school basketball star thought only of getting his life back and back on the basketball court.

“It really comes down to character,” he said. “Just being able to persevere in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of adversity,” Hatch told Maria Shriver in an interview on the Today Show recently. He attributes his survival skills to his late father who died in the second crash.

Hatch’s dream is coming true. He is now playing in his first season for the University of Michigan, the school which he had verbally committed to a scholarship just two weeks prior to the second crash. His focus and determination is allowing him to build the life and success he desires rather than dwelling on the past.

Character. Perseverance. Determination. Never giving up. Key characteristics it takes to build a successful life and a successful business.

A noticeable difference in attitude. Forward thinking and a focus on the positive—what can be done, instead of what won’t work or what happened in the past.

So if your business is struggling or you feel it’s headed for a crash landing. Think of Hatch’s story and focus forward.

This article was originally published by Susan Solovic