Failure or Success?



Failure or Success?


In my lifetime I have "failed". A lot. In many areas. Including: 


Relationships, parenting, business ventures, and finances.


However, I do not consider myself a failure or that these failures are actually failures. 

On the contrary, I have only found ways that do not work. 


Let me explain. I can choose to accept the fact that many of my relationships, parenting techniques, business adventures, and financial struggles are truly failures and QUIT. 


OR


I can press on, realizing that the plan that I purposed and put into execution was flawed, then, I am able to choose to accept the defeated plan, and create a new plan! 


Since I haven't QUIT improving my relationships, parenting techniques, business ventures, and finances, I am not a failure! I have simply learned what does not work. 


Many successful people have learned this golden nugget, and now I share it, and some of their experiences, with you. 


Let's begin with Thomas A. Edison. From humble beginnings and Edison's relentless efforts, his most famous invention, the incandescent electric light bulb, was realized. 



But not before he met with many failures. Ten thousand times he tried and failed. 



However, in his own words,  Edison did not admit or accept failure as he stated: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." 






Edison did not QUIT. He chose instead to view what others called failures as minor defeats on his journey to create a more modern world for us all. 



And his thinking paid off....BIG. 



Edison didn't stop because he realized that he wasn't a failure, but rather, his PLANS were flawed. 



So, he changed his plan. Every single time the plan didn't work, and he was faced with temporary defeat, he created a new plan. 



The American Writer Elbert Hubbard wrote: "There is no failure except in no longer trying." 



The list of famous people who failed, at first, is encouraging and reinforces in my inner being that I can. 


I am not the first person to fail at something, and I will not be the last! 


Other Famous people who have failed, and then succeeded include: 


Oprah Winfrey, who said: "There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction." 


Steven Spielberg


Walt Disney, who said: "If you can dream it, you can do it." 


Albert Einstein 


J.K. Rowlings, who said: "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." 



Theodor Seuss Geisel - AKA: Dr. Seuss 


Stephen King - King's first book, "Carrie" was rejected 30 times, by 30 publishers when he was 20 years old. One of the publishers actually said "We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias." The rejections caused him to give up hope and he threw the book in the trash. However, his wife retrieved the book and asked him to re-submit it - which he did. His success that followed tells the rest of the story! 


Elvis Presley


Vincent Van Gogh - Although this Dutch artist died believing his life's work was a failure, and it has been said that Van Gogh was no star in the art world, possibly based on the legend that the artist only sold a single painting in his lifetime,  still, he was quoted saying:"In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing." 



President Abraham Lincoln - came from impoverished beginnings and failed numerous times before finally becoming the 16th President of the United States. He persevered and once elected President, Lincoln accomplished a great number of beneficial acts, including issuing the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery on January 1, 1863. 

 *A side note concerning Lincoln - in a letter to Isham Reavis (regarding Reavis' desire to become a lawyer) on November 5, 1855, Lincoln stated: "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing."  



Michael Jordan said: "I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot...and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." 



Sir James Dyson - British inventor and founder of the Dyson Company. When asked about his numerous failures, Dyson replied: "We have to embrace failure and almost get a kick out of it. Not in a perverse way, but in a problem-solving way. Life is a mountain of solvable problems and I enjoy that." 



Consider for a moment, if you will, where we would be if any one of these people had not persevered? What would have happened, or not happened, if they had chosen to quit? 



If Thomas A. Edison had given up after 10,000 failures who would have invented the incandescent electric light bulb, and when? 



If Abraham Lincoln had given up before becoming the 16th President of the United States, would the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery on January 1, 1863 still have come to pass? 



If Walt Disney had quit because of his failures, would there be a Disney Land or a Disney World? Who would have pioneered the fields of animation, and found new ways to teach, educate and entertain?



These examples show us the truth about success and failure. Each of us have the same choices in front of us. We can choice to accomplish our goals and dreams, despite whatever failures may come, or we can chose to merely give up and quit. 



Success is there for the taking, for all of us, we just have to be willing to persevere and, if our plans are flawed and fail, then we must act at once to change the plan and continue on, always keeping the desired outcome in the forefront of our minds. 




Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.  












References 

"35 Memorable Thomas Edison Quotes." By Joel Brown (2016).  http://addicted2success.com/quotes/35-memorable-thomas-edison-quotes/

"15 Highly Successful People Who Failed On Their Way To Success." By Sebastian Kipman (2016). 
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/15-highly-successful-people-who-failed-their-way-success.html 

"Abraham Lincoln Biography." From Bio (2016).  http://www.biography.com/people/abraham-lincoln-9382540 

"The World's Most Powerful Quotes." By Joel Brown. (2016). http://addicted2success.com/quotes/the-worlds-most-powerful-quotes/

"Celebs Who Went From Failures to Success Stories." By CBS Money Watch at: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/celebs-who-went-from-failures-to-success-stories/12/ 

54 Memorable Quotes by Vincent Van Gogh." From Quote Sigma. (2016). http://www.quotesigma.com/54-memorable-quotes-by-vincent-van-gogh/ 

"James Dyson on Using Failure to Drive Success." By Nadia Goodman. (November, 2012). https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224855 
"Lincoln's Advice to Lawyers." By Roy P. Basler et al (2016). http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/law.htm 


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