Irresponsibility can be an addiction as strong as drugs or alcohol, Irresponsible Anonymous is a 12 step program to kick the habit of breaking promises, this is Step 9 and it’s about seeing the long term and not getting stuck on the small defeats.

Between 1337 and 1452 occurred a series of events historians call “the war of the 100 years”.

The 113 years of conflict between England and France is a period that defined our global reality, and I take it as an example of persistency and focus.

The war was eventually “won” (if such a thing can be said about war), by France. This victory wasn’t the consequence of one heroic encounter between two majestic armies, like in the movies, but the sum of battles beyond count, not only in the field of war, but also in politics, religion and economy.

Our modern culture of “immediate resolution” has taught us that things get resolved within fixed timeframes: Soccer matches get won in 90 minutes if the allotted time runs out we go to penalties to resolve the issue… our relationships have shorter courtships (sex on the third date) and our food gets served in 90 seconds. Even websites highlight what we should read and products offer immediate and easy solutions to all kinds of problems.

I believe this is the reason we react to badly to a defeat, we think it’s the end of the war; we have lost the ability to see our efforts as the sum of a series of small victories during a span of time.

In the war of the 100 years, England had the strategic, economic and military advantage. Their advanced technology (the long bow) and their revolutionary government of centralized parliament gave them the abilities they needed to take most of France.

But, just when Orleans was under siege, Joan of Arc arrived and led to a series of events that eventually ended with the expulsion of the English army from French territory.

If we see this story from different points of view, we can extract different lessons:

1. The English: It doesn’t matter if you have a position of power, if you overextend and commit with more than you can achieve, its only matter of time until someone finds your weak point and exploits it to defeat you. Advance should be timely, calculated and inexhaustible. 100 years of victory count for nothing if you are defeated in the next 13, we have to be patient and constant in our goals.
2. The French: You haven’t lost until you are defeated. Even if there were only a square foot of French territory, they didn’t give up. Morale was low and everything seemed to be lost, but the inspiration of Joan of Arc arrived, then Burgundy made a change of alliance, then the war ended with Jeans Bureau.

During the Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill said of the potential German invasion of England: “We will fight them in our beaches, we will fight them in our fields, we will fight in the hills and in the streets… we will never surrender!”

This is a war, have no doubt of it. A continuous struggle between the will to be better than we are and the temptation to just let go, so reward yourself for the small victories, and don’t punish the small losses; Down the road you will find a lot of both, but as long as the conviction is firm and the step is constant, I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I can guarantee you will emerge in glory as conqueror of your life.