Today I would like to talk to you about one of our core values as an OB’s boy and how this value not only identifies us as a school yet also identifies us as individuals.

Perseverance.

Occasionally, you may find yourself struggling with a certain situation or goal where you begin to lose your passion and drive to continue pursuing this goal. You begin to lose faith and confidence in yourself as well as your ability, and you start to think, am I good enough?

Yes, you are. You can accomplish anything you want. If you are willing to work for it.

At times like these when we fail or don’t reach our goals, it is where perseverance really kicks in, these are the times where you stop dwelling on past mistakes you may have made, this is when you knuckle down and aim to improve whatever your situation may be. Perseverance is the persistence in something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. Perseverance is the determination to not give in.

As Michael Jordan said “I’ve missed 9000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the match winning shot, and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over in my life, and that is why I succeed.”

You shouldn’t be afraid to take risks, you shouldn’t fear failure, embracing failure, taking risks, and persevering, is why Michael Jordan succeeded.

By embracing failure, you attain a positive attitude towards your mistakes and become confident in your ability, failures are what motivate you to improve and better yourself. With this comes perseverance, perseverance to finish that internal, perseverance to hold off and tie down the last 10 minutes of a game no matter how bad you want the final whistle to go. Perseverance is winning that medal, and proving to people you have got what it takes no matter what the odds are against you.

For some reason boys are forever worried about perfection and perfectionists are always quick to pounce on a mistake or failure that someone else has made. Everyone fails! Everyone makes mistakes! So, don’t think you are alone. Don’t fear failure or perfectionists because when writing the story of your life, you don’t want to let someone else hold the pen. Be who you want to be and don’t let anyone tell you won’t get there, because if you want it bad enough, you’ll persevere and work for it, and if you don’t get there, you haven’t worked hard enough!

Every morning when I put my OB’s uniform on, I wear my blazer with pride. Understanding that I’m not the smartest academic in the school, understanding I’m not the best sportsman in the school, but coming to understand that to achieve my goals and continue to improve in my chosen fields, perseverance has been and will continue to be a vital component.

Hold your head high, puff your chest out and be proud to wear that OB’s crest, day in and day out because when your times up at this school, you want to be proud to say that you’ve achieved what you wanted to achieve and proud to call yourself an OB’s boy.

So, boys, whatever you are wanting to achieve in life it isn’t going to come easy. Yes, you will fail. You may fail countless times. But remember failures are what can break you or make you who you are, your ability to bounce back and persevere will show your true character. Finish strong this term and all the best for the rest of the year, but remember…

If you can’t fly, run.
If you can’t run, walk.
If you can’t walk, crawl,
but whatever you do,
you have to keep moving forward.

Martin Luther King Jr