One
person in history who had extraordinary bounce back power had an amazing list
of failures before he finally succeeded in a big way. Who do you think the following person
is? He began by losing his job at the
young age of 22. He decided to get into
politics at the age of 23 but was defeated for State Legislature. Back in business the next year at age 24 he
failed in business again yet at the age of 25 he was successfully elected to
State Legislature. Unfortunately at the
age of 26 his sweetheart died and he had a nervous breakdown at 27. He was defeated for House Speaker at the age
of 29 and again the next year in a run for nomination for Congress. By the age of 34 he was successfully elected
for Congress but lost re-nomination at the age of 38. From the age of 39 to 49 he was defeated in
run for Commissioner, a run for the Senate, in a run for the nomination for Vice
President and another defeat in a final run for Senate. Utter failure. Finally, by the age of 51, Abraham Lincoln
was elected as the President of the United States
President
Abraham Lincoln, arguably one of the greatest President's of all time
successfully failed his way to great success and many others in history have
followed suit one of which was Henry Ford.
While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and
American-made cars, he wasn't an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left
him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.
The
billion-dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and
fortunate turns of luck. Soichiro Honda
was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a
position as an engineer, leaving him unemployed for quite some time. He started
making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally
started his own business.
In
his younger years, teachers told Thomas Edison he was "too stupid to learn
anything." Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for
not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison
made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all
those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
And last but not least, let's
not forget Michael
Jordan. Most people wouldn't believe that
a man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut
from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan
From the above examples it's
fairly clear that success isn't simply an inherently bred trait free of
challenges, obstacles and failures.
Rather failure should be accepted, perhaps even expected. Yet with diligence, thick-skin, persistence
and a knack for bouncing back success may be inevitable.
