The Art of Successful Failure

Often times when we think of successful people we tend to think that they were bred geniuses destined for success, fame and fortune.   Yet if you dig a little deeper you'll find that the great majority of them had numerous and staggering failures prior to their glory.  Which leads me to a few questions.  What do you do right after a failure?  What do you do after a rejection?  What do you do after a strike out?  What do you do after you trip up or fall flat on your face?  Do you stay there or do you get back up?  Do you bounce back or do you splat? 

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.  Epic win. 

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 didn't let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, "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. I have failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.

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.