“I’m having a Bianca on hurdles day.”

I’ll text my sister this whenever it feels like nothing in life or business is going as planned.

Let me explain.

When we were in high school, Bianca, my twin sister, decided she was going to run the 300-meter dash with hurdles. After clearing the first three hurdles with ease, Bianca broke the number one rule from Coach Julia which was looking over at her opponents. Bianca then lost her cadence and fell over hurdles 4-10 in front of hundreds of people, but she got back up and still limped to the finish line with bloody shins.

I met her there to tell her how proud of her I was for not quitting… oh, and her response, you ask?

She looked at me, stopped crying, and said, “Wait a minute, I could have quit?”

She didn’t know that quitting was an option… so she didn’t quit. (Think about that for a moment.)

Even though Bianca and I aren’t technically identical, our upbringings were pretty darn close.

And one thing that we definitely share is our desire to help others remain resilient. 

We believe resilience is a choice that we make every single day (sometimes multiple times a day!), and you’d better BELIEVE we have stories to prove it. 

I invited Bianca to come on this episode to share some of the lessons that we learned growing up together (in fact, we learned so many that she just released a brand new book about them: “Grit Don’t Quit”).

Click play to hear all of this and…

[00:03:45] The origins of our (Bianca and my) resilience and grit, and how it shaped our lives.

[00:08:15] Our experiences running track in high school, including Bianca's resilience while running hurdles where she fell multiple times but didn't quit.

[00:13:50] The moment when I realized quitting was an option and the societal privilege of being able to quit.

[00:17:17] The five key questions to ask yourself before deciding to quit, including whether the season is done and if you feel released from the situation.

[00:20:15] How to remain resilient when wanting to quit and the importance of choosing to persevere in the face of challenges.

[00:24:18] The significance of resilience not just for ourselves, but for paving the way for future generations and inspiring others to keep going.

[00:28:58] The importance of practicing gratitude and how it can help overcome failure and exhaustion.

[00:30:49] The importance of learning from failures and embracing them as opportunities for growth.

For complete show notes, visit: http://jasminestar.com/podcast/episode363

More about Bianca Olthoff: Bianca is a Bible-teaching, word-slanging “MexiRican” who is passionate about raising up a generation of people passionate about Jesus Christ. As an author, speaker, and podcaster, she knows the power of words and wields them wisely. As a church planter and leader, she is committed to proclaiming the gospel domestically and internationally. Grab a copy of her brand new book, Grit Don’t Quit >>HERE<<.