Have you ever felt like a failure? I know I have. But guess what, if you have, then statistics say you are normal, engaged in life, and in with some pretty good company. What company you ask? Well how about this short list for starters:
Abraham Lincoln: Who is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation; went to war a captain and returned a private. He also failed at numerous businesses before becoming a successful lawyer and was defeated many times in campaign runs for public office before becoming President.
Henry Ford: The founder of Ford Motor Company who had several failed businesses and was absolutely flat broke several times in his life before he became a success.
Albert Einstein: Who did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven. His teachers and parents believed he was mentally handicapped and that he displayed anti-social behavior.
Thomas Edison: Who was told by teachers that he “was too stupid to learn anything” and was fired from his first two jobs for low productivity. Then, while working on his invention of the light bulb, Edison tried unsuccessfully 1,000 times to find the precise filament material to produce sustained light.
J.K. Rowling: Who was rejected by twelve publishers and was told “she should get a day job because there is no money in children’s books.”
Michael Jordan: Who was cut from his high school basketball team.
Do you think that the people in this list may have had doubts, thought about giving up, felt like failures? I think the answer is obvious – of course they did. But what was the difference? How did they come back and go on to be successful? There is a commonality regarding failure among not only the people on this list, but among most successful people. First, they all view failure as learning experience that drives them forward, not backward. And second, they never give up. Successful people realize that in order to succeed, you have to be in the game and sometimes that means you are going to have a misstep. But, it’s how you view that misstep that is the difference between success and failure. Thomas Edison, who was talking from experience, said “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”. While working on his light bulb invention, Edison didn’t look at his 1000 unsuccessful attempts as failures, but instead, viewed them as successful experiments that eliminated substandard filament materials.
So, if you are occasionally failing, then that might not be a bad thing. And remember, you are in an elite club. It also means you are ACTUALLY IN the game and not on the sidelines of life. On success and failure, Michael Jordan said, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed.”
If you want to see the spirit of success in action, and a true champion, I encourage you to watch the video clip below. It is of runner Derek Anthony Redmond at the’92 Barcelona Olympics.
How do you keep a “never give up” attitude in the face of adversity? Tell me below.