It’s called ‘Hell Week’ for good reason.
It’s the climax of Navy SEALs training: seven days of incomparable physical challenge calculated to break all but the superhuman. During that week, the pool of SEALs recruits, already narrowed to 20%, gets whittled down to 5%.
How do those 5% make it through? What sets them apart?
Sean Kernan, son of a SEAL, shares his father’s secret to survival:
“Come sunup on Tuesday [of Hell Week], and yet there is still so much to go. That’s when guys start thinking things like – it’s only Tuesday – how am I going to get through all of this?”
“The people that start thinking like this,” continues Kernan, “are the ones that quit."
"Those who make it through only look a few minutes in front of them. They don’t worry about Thursday or Friday. They’re only focused on each individual exercise. They get through it one thing at a time.”
Most of us reading this don’t spend weeks swimming for miles in frigid water on no sleep.
But right now so many of us are facing our own challenges. Sometimes, your fundraising needs can feel insurmountable. And the overwhelm, the despair, can be hard to fight.
“How am I going to get through this? How can I possibly raise the budget in this climate?”
Next time these thoughts come up for you, try Kernan’s advice: “Lower your gaze to whatever next step is right in front of you.”
Can you make one phone call? How about one more? Can you write one email? Answer that other one?
Just keep moving. Just put one foot in front of the other.
And guess what – we have something the navy seals don’t have.
“Haba l’taher, misayen oso.”
Even if you’re at rock bottom, if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, ‘Haba l’taher’, Hashem will pick things up, ‘misayen oso’.
Those who’ve been fundraising for a while will agree: It’s at times like these that a yeshua comes, like a dream donation suddenly flies in from left field. And you make it. You reach your goal.
Just look one step ahead. It’s the secret to achieving the impossible.
Besoros Tovos to Klal Yisroel,
Avraham
© Avraham Lewis & Co.