Are you tough like Girmay and Cavendish?

The two successes achieved at the Tour de France by Biniam Girmay, the first African to win a stage in the world’s most important race, and by Mark Cavendish with a record 35 victories in the same race, speak not only of their abilities but above all of their tenacity.

Tenacity is about the desire to achieve a specific goal at all costs and the commitment to do everything possible to reach it. Tenacity expresses an absolute, unmediated value; it involves taking the maximum risk without knowing if you will succeed. It is a mindset based on all or nothing. This is why only a few people practice it consistently, as not everyone is willing to face the risk of failure.

Many say that when they are in difficulty, they cannot be constructive with themselves and wait for the day when they will succeed, without knowing on what basis this should happen: “It’s not me; it’s the challenge that was too great for me.”

Girmay and Cavendish certainly did not think this way; they continued to put themselves to the test even if what they wanted to achieve had never been done before. No African had ever won a stage of the Tour de France, and no one had ever surpassed Eddy Merckx’s record of victories. They would have had an excellent excuse to give up since no one had ever succeeded.

Let us follow these examples as adults if we want to be positive role models for our boys and girls.