“Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down.”
Tom Petty sang those words as a declaration of stubborn persistence, but beneath the anthem is a much simpler truth: resolve is rarely proven in one grand moment. It is proven in small decisions, made one day at a time.
That idea came back to me recently when I read a story about a tattoo artist who gives people simple numeric tattoos as a symbol of sobriety or a battle waged by any individual.
Now first, I understand that the story is probably at least a little bit of an urban legend. Like most things that circulate online, it is likely partially true, partially exaggerated, and partially myth.
But the power of the message behind it stuck with me.
Because the number itself is not really the point. The point is what that number represents: one more day. One more decision. One more moment where someone chose to stay on the path they were trying to follow. The numbers grow over time, but the meaning behind them never really changes. Each one simply represents another day where someone woke up and chose to do the right thing again.
That idea resonated enough with me that I recently introduced something at my day job that I call the “Culture of One.”
