Perseverance: Meet Mark Slauter, My First Guest Blogger
Meet Mark Slauter. Mark is a Certified Floodplain Manager with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. During nearly three decades of professional life, he has been involved with a variety of environmental, land use, emergency management, floodplain management, and legislative projects and programs.
Recently, he decided to use a personal story to combine his experience in technical writing with his desire to try his hand at narrative.
This is his overview of his book, Diary of a Novice Investor: The Bullet Train to Wealth Left When?
“Dad dies and Mom has dementia. It’s now my responsibility to ensure Mom’s financial well-being. With minimal experience in managing a personal investment portfolio, I’m now forced to ask myself am I able? How can I execute my inexperience against the 100 years combined experience of my parents? There’s only one way to truly answer the question. By creating and managing a fictional stock portfolio I track my efforts against Mom’s portfolio. Money is made and lost. This story provides real world insights for people who have little or no experience with investing. Through my experience, you will be better prepared to take control of your own financial well-being. Conquer the fear.”
Welcome, Mark. And it’s over to you.
Perseverance
One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, during a scene where an elderly gray-haired Native American is relaying a conversation between representatives of the Tribal Nations and the Secretary of Interior to the character Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood). The Tribal Nations Representatives met with the Secretary to complain about the condition of their peoples and the lands they were forced to live on. The Secretary’s response was, “Endeavor to persevere”.
Endeavor to persevere. It’s interesting how much meaning and power can be conveyed within seven syllables constituting three words. The Secretary didn’t really care what the Tribes did, it wasn’t his problem. The Tribes on the other hand, had endured sufficient hardships that they no longer desired to persevere.
Endeavoring to do something is the easy part. It doesn’t require much thought or energy to make an attempt. Perseverance is much harder, requiring a more conscious effort based on a mix of grit, guts, determination, stamina, and desire.
I was flattered when Dean asked me if I would be interested in posting a guest blog. Without hesitation, I said yes. She asked if there was anything in particular I wanted to write about. Without hesitation, I said perseverance. Why? Because it’s at the forefront of my being right now.
In 2013, I began an endeavor to write my first book. In June of 2015, I had surgery on my right shoulder (my good arm, of course) and have spent the past few weeks editing my book one-handed, just as I’m typing this post one-handed. Not that you should care that I did something one-handed, rather it’s illustrative of the desire to see a project through to its completion. That’s the payoff, the reward.
Success in whatever you do requires perseverance. Accomplishing what you set out to do is rewarding and along the way you learn, becoming a better, stronger person. If you garden, grow the best tasting vegetables. If you run, run the best time. If you write, write the best piece. Even when it’s not the best, do it anyway, you’ll thank yourself.
