What's Your Excuse?

By
David Bradshaw

AT A PUBLIC speaking seminar in Anaheim, California, a few years ago, I was sitting beside a motivational speaker called Rene Godefroy for one of the sessions.

Rene gave me a copy of his book, No Condition is Permanent, about how he rose from a life of poverty and near starvation in a remote village in Haiti to become a prominent speaker and writer

If you want to succeed, you often have to fight for it, but how many of us would cope with the challenges that Rene faced—and triumphantly overcame?

It’s an inspiring story. It brings home the fact that being disadvantaged is no reason for not achieving whatever it is you want from life.

As the book blurb explains, “Rene was an impoverished child tormented by extended illness. 

Abandoned by his father and left behind while his mother sought work in the city, he survived primarily on breadfruit and the occasional rare fish he caught with a string and hook . . .”

Alone

To quote Rene’s own words: “I wanted to give up many times because my body was so weak, but my spirit refused to do so. It wanted me to stay in the ring and fight one more battle. I spent most of my time during the day sitting on a dirt floor fanning flies off my face; and at night, I shooed away the mosquitos. I was so alone.”


When he eventually got to the USA, Rene couldn’t speak a word of English and had only five dollars to his name.

Quite a few challenges there, you might think.

Even his first arrival in the country—as an illegal immigrant, clinging to the metal bar behind the rear tires of a tractor-trailer for a five hour journey from Canada—was an experience most of us wouldn’t even contemplate.  

“The truck driver drove fast,” he recalls. “He didn’t care that I was between the axles enduring all the shocks. I couldn’t open my eyes and I had a tough time breathing because of all the smoke and dust.”

He said there were moments when he wasn’t sure if he could hang on for the duration of the trip. 

“The thought crossed my mind several times to simply let go and drop dead, but I had too many people in the village counting on me to help them. Plus, I had my survival instincts from poverty and diseases that urged me to hold on.”

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear that Rene finally achieved his goal of US citizenship. He became fluent in English and gradually worked his way up from being a hotel doorman to get onto the speaking circuit. 

He is now chief executive officer of Village Hero, Inc., an Atlanta-based company “dedicated to uplifting the human spirit in pursuit of personal growth and professional development”.

The message Rene wants to convey is this: “Success, regardless of what it means to you, is a matter of choice and personal initiative—and no condition is ever permanent”.

Perspective

Which brings me to my point.

Most of us will never encounter challenges which bear any resemblance to those that Rene faced and overcame by sheer force of will.

He admits many times in the book that at various stages in his life he wanted to give up—and who could blame him? But he hung on, both literally and figuratively.

A story such as Rene’s has the effect of putting things into perspective for the rest of us; at least, it did for me.

So what’s your excuse for not tackling life’s challenges? Whatever they are, I’m pretty sure they pale by comparison with this man’s literally hair-raising story.

So here’s the message, once again: no matter what difficulty you’re up against, stay in the ring and fight one more battle.

Rene’s first book, No Condition is Permanent: 10 Master Strategies to Help You Move Fear and Doubt to Action, was followed by Kick Your Excuses Goodbye: No Condition is Permanent!