1941 was one of the direst years in the history of Great Britain. 

Winston Churchill had been made prime minister, even though his party, the Conservatives, hated him.

In the midst of war, they were scheming to unseat him as prime minister. Politics were prioritized over what was good for the country.

Meanwhile, Germany controlled Europe and was launching bombing raids over London every day. Thousands of people were dying and being left homeless.

Britain’s ships were being sunk by U-boats. There was rationing of food.

There was no light at the end of the tunnel.

Sound familiar?

Maybe it’s like your business today.

Economic storm clouds everywhere, the Rand falling to R18/$, lockdown.

A global pandemic that not only threatens to kill millions, but is guaranteed to trigger the greatest economic crisis since Lehman’s went under in 2008.

No light. 

In the midst of 1941, someone asked Churchill how he could remain an optimist. 

Craig Rivett shares his answer:

“One evening, two frogs — an optimist and a pessimist — were hopping around a dairy. 

Distracted by the number of flies and cows, they both fell into a vat half fill of milk.

Upon seeing the high of the walls and realising that there was no escape, the pessimist frog crawled into a ball and sank to the bottom.

The optimist frog saw the same walls and came to the same realisation as the pessimist frog, but instead of giving up, he decided to keep on swimming. He believed that if he stayed afloat long enough, something would save him.

So, he kept swimming and swimming, right through the night.

The next morning, because of his kicking, some of the milk had been churned into butter. He was then able to stand up and jump out to safety.

The moral of the story? No matter how bad it seems, keep swimming. You have no idea how the story is going to end, until it has ended.”

Churchill survived his party machinations. Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. The USA declared war on Japan. Germany declared war on the USA. The USA allied with Great Britain. And the Allies defeated the Axis Powers, ultimately resulting in liberal democracy prevailing as the winning form of government, and English becoming the lingua franca of the world. 

From the darkest of dark places, Churchill (and Britain) triumphed. How? 

Because he never gave up.

Remember that.

No matter how bleak the news of the world, keep swimming and paddling and kicking. You never know what’s going to happen.

Stay in the game.

Never give up.