No one is immune to failure. It occurs every day to many people in different ways - in schools, offices, homes, marital lives, businesses, relationships and other areas of life.
The thought of failing or having failed at one point in time can leave you feeling devastated and in turn cause feelings of inferiority complex thereby creating an attitude of pessimism.
We may have experienced certain failures in the year 2022 - dreams not realized, failure in businesses, relationships, projects and so on but does not mean the end of that dream or other dreams.
Just as there are stories of failures, there are also success stories. Most successful people we see today, had series of failures in their lives before they ever became successful in life. Just one more try can set you up for success in life.
Unfortunately, so many people give up too soon or in life after a first attempt or several attempts and then conclude it is not for them despite having a burning desire and passion for that particular dream or dreams.
There are lots of stories of many successful people today that we admire and want to be like but behind those successes were struggles and series of failures. Below are a few mentioned.
We all know the story of Abraham Lincoln who had series of failures before eventually becoming the president of the United States of America but just in case you don't, let me tell you and some others.
Abraham Lincoln lost his job in 1832. Was defeated for state legislature in 1832. Failed in business in 1833. Elected to state legislature in 1834. Lost his wife in 1835. Had a nervous breakdown in 1836. Defeated for speaker in 1838. Defeated for congress in 1843. Elected in congress in 1846. Lost renomination in 1848. Rejected for land officer in 1849. Defeated for U.S senate in 1858. Defeated for nomination for Vice President in 1856. Defeated again for U.S senate in 1858 and finally, elected as U.S president in 1860.
Imagine if Abraham Lincoln had given up on life after these series of failures, no one would blame him but no one would have remembered him and today, he is source of encouragement and motivation to so many people especially me. I can't speak of successful who had challenges without mentioning Abraham Lincoln.
As regards the sales of his chicken, it is said, he was turned down 1009 times before he was accepted once and later went global from just that one acceptance. By 1964, KFC was recorded to have had 600 franchises. Today, KFC has about 22,621 branches in about 136 countries worldwide.
Even though Sanders later sold out KFC, his face till date has always been the image of the of the fast food restaurant and his story is an inspiration and a source of motivation to indicate dreams never die except we give up.
Thomas Edison before finally inventing the light bulb had failed 10,000 times. Infact, he once had his factory burnt down to ashes but his attitude was "Although I'm over 67 years old, I'll start all over again tomorrow."
It's never too late to pick up the pieces of a shattered dream and start all over again like Thomas Edison did and today we have the light bulb as a result of his persistence, perseverance, determination and his never giving up spirit.
Michael Jordan considered as the greatest basketball player of all times had his own share of failures before becoming famous for his successes in basketball.
He 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. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded."
Walt Disney who never gave up on his dreams was once fired on grounds of lack of imagination from a local newspaper he was working for in 1919. He went on to start a company called Laugh-O-Gram that produces cartoon animations but was later declared bankrupt in 1923 but he was not deterred at all from pursuing his dreams despite the obstacles.
He later moved to Hollywood where he and his brother founded the Disney Brothers Studio which later became Walt Disney Company. In 1928, Disney created Mickey Mouse which led to a turn for good for him from there on.
Sylvester Stallone popularly known as Rocky or Rambo also had his fair share of failures. He was so broke to a point that he sold his dog for $25 just to make ends meet.
One day, after watching the boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner, he went and wrote the script ROCKY for 20 hours and went on to sell the script with a request to star in the lead role of the movie but was rejected about three times on grounds that he walked, looked and talked strangely.
He was offered $125,000 for the script without being part of the movie but he refused. He was later offered $350,000 dollars without also being part of the movie, he still refused. All he wanted was to be part of the movie but what they wanted they was his movie and not him.
He was again offered $35,000 by the same studio but this time, his request was granted and the rest is history today with the same movie winning multiple awards and he as successful as he can be that he could buy his dog back from the same person he sold it to at $15,000.
Oprah Winfrey had a rough childhood growing up - born to an impoverished teenage mother, suffered abuse from the age of 9, became mother at the age of 14 and still lost the child. With guts and grit, she turned the tables around when she began excelling in school.
But she still experienced certain failures later in life. She was fired from her prestigious job and demoted too but she never gave up on her dreams. She moved on to excelling at her talk shows and businesses without even being business-oriented
Stephanie Meyer, The author of the Twilight series faced the failure of rejection. She wrote 15 letters for her book and was rejected 14 times but one acceptance turned the tables around for her and her book broke records in sales.
J.K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, faced 12 rejections from publishers but today, the book is a huge success that has led to award winning movie series.
These and many more are stories of successful people who once had series of failures before becoming successful and famous. Successful people did not overnight do great things but did small things in great ways that led to their success.
Today we look up to these successful people, admire them and want to be as successful as they are but success is not the absence of failure. It is simply overcoming failure with a positive mindset that leads to success.
It's easy to only want to see the successes of people without wanting to see the struggles behind the success. Behind every great success, there has been series of failures or a great failure.
I have also had my fair share of failures in life which you can read here and in other posts of this blog but am still moving forward and hopefully, one day I make a huge impact like the people mentioned above.
Hold on to your dreams. Just because you failed once does not mean you are a failure or that it's impossible to achieve your dreams. According to Henry Ford "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."
Every setback experienced can be a setup for a great comeback but it all depends on how you react towards the setback. You either bounceback or stay defeated.
Quote for the day - "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it's the courage to continue that counts."
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