Knocked Down 7 Times Stand Up 8 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Knocked Down 7 Times Stand Up 8 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A pep talk. My favorite moment in the entire Rocky Balboa pantheon is not when he beats the hell out of Clubber Lang or Ivan Drago. Its near the end of the first movie, Rocky, at the end of the 14th round when hes been beaten so badly, he can barely stand. Hes so tired he cant even raise his hands to protect himself. His eyes are so swollen he cant even see. And Apollo Creed keeps pummeling him mercilessly, blasting him with jabs and hooks from both sides. What is keeping him up? shouts one of the ring announcers. Apollo blasts him with a right hook, and Rocky drops like a stone. Down! Stay down! hollers his trainer, as Rocky lurches to his feet, trying to grab a rope just to pull himself up. He wont stay down. Rocky barely has the energy to beckon to his opponent. Come on. Im not done. Apollo looks away, sad, embarrassed, reluctant to hit him anymore. Rocky weaves as Apollo approaches, like a drunk whos only aping a boxer, not an actual boxer. Except! Rocky ducks a right hook and pounds Apollos ribs with four body blows that leave the champ holding his side as the bell rings, ending the penultimate round. In the final round, the tide turns. The crowd chants Rocky! Rocky! as he delivers his own savage beating. He takes Apollo all the way to the end of the bout, but ultimately loses in a split decision. As the bell rings, Apollo tells anyone who can hear him, There aint gonna be a rematch. There aint gonna be a rematch. We all know what happens next. That 14th round, is sometimes the life of the entrepreneur. Not the wealthy entrepreneur whose brilliant idea turns into an awesome company with a foosball table in the break room and a masseuse who comes in on Fridays. I mean the entrepreneur who works 16 hours a day just to stay alive. The one who is constantly beaten, pummeled, and abused. The one whos so tired he cant even raise his hands to protect himself. The one who gets knocked to the mat for the third time, gets up for the fourth, and beckons, Come on. Im not done. Ive been there so many times. Knocked down so many times Ive lost count. And I will be again. But I get up. Every time. I have to, because I dont know what else to do. I get up, dodge whatever is thrown at me, and start swinging. I never know whats going to happen, but I have to believe its going to get better. I have to believe that the next round will be my round. The next fight will be my fight. When you think you cant go on anymore, when youve been knocked down, and your face is so bruised and swollen that you cant even see, when the people in your corner are telling you, Down! Stay down! get up. Get up one more time than you get knocked down. If you get knocked down seven times, get up eight. Get up, because one of those times â€" maybe not this time, maybe not even the next one â€" will be when you see your opportunity. You see your opening, and you take it. You sledgehammer your opponent with a couple of savage body blows, and thats the moment that turns the tide for the rest of your life. But you wont get that opportunity if you stay down. You wont get that moment if you decide its too hard, that its easier to just lay there and wait for everyone to go away. And you certainly wont get that moment if you never get in the ring. Get up one more time, beckon to the other guy, and start swinging again. If you do, you just may become The Champ. Author: Erik Deckers  is the owner of  Professional Blog Service, a newspaper humor columnist, and the co-author of  Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself  and  No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing, and  The Owned Media Doctrine.