Fatigue? Do you endure or persevere?

Upon recently reconnecting with an old friend of mine from college, he asked me how I am doing. I replied simply, "You know how things are, we are all trying to raise a family, make a living, and have a few laughs along the way." We both agreed. However, occasionally, life gets in the way and creates barriers to the achievement of this simple sentence. Sometimes its the red light that you didn't catch on the way to drop your kids off at a local event they don't want to miss. Other times, it might be the bluetooth battery that dies just as you are about to get on a critical conference call as you head into the heavy traffic area on your commute into the office. And that's when fatigue can set in.

You owe it to yourself, your family, and your income earning potential to deal with fatigue. Fatigue is very real. Individuals, departments, divisions, and enterprises can all get fatigued. In EPIC Change, Timothy Clark asks "Is it suffering from a state of fatigue that has induced a survival mentality and has made people apathetic toward change?"  As a change and transformation leader, it is important that you are dialed into these levels of fatigue because left untreated, they will have a negative impact on your ability to change. And, chances are that there is always someone or some team who is fatigued.

When you get fatigued in life or the office, you have a choice. You can be overwhelmed or you can overcome. To facilitate a choice, consider the two concepts below. Both are important but each presents a much different mental model with respect to change and transformation.

• Wikipedia defines "Endurance" as the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to wounds, or fatigue.
• On the other hand, "Perseverance" is the individual's tendency to behave without being reinforced into the motivation purposes.

As you engage change and transformational efforts, I urge you to understand the concept of endurance, and how it can be leveraged to discuss fatigue in your efforts. Having a team that endures is a strength in any situation. As leaders, I encourage you to raise your game, and move beyond endurance to perseverance because this concept brings along the idea of self-propelling motivation.

Think of change or transformational maturity and the capabilities a company needs to have to competitively differentiate themselves with respect to transformation. If you are fortunate enough to build / lead a team who can be motivated to drive themselves forward, in spite of the fatigue, you have created a competitive differentiator in your company. So, are you enduring or are you persevering through your fatigue?