I juggled my favorite words for P -practice, prioritize, persist, persevere and of course, plan. I chose persevere because it is a must-have quality to achieve anything in life. Giving up is not an option, unless, as the fine print in legal documents says - it is an Act of God or a natural disaster.
You may find this an extension of "keep going" but I cannot overemphasize how important it is not to quit. There's no success without failure!
Some of the most successful people we know today are a product of their failures. Here are some of my favorite examples of people who reinforce my belief that anything is possible. I hope they inspire you too.
Dr. Seuss - remember how much you have enjoyed his books? Today practically every child grows up reading his books. Theodor Seuss Giesel, better known to us as Dr. Seuss, was rejected by twenty-seven publishers before his first book To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was finally accepted by Vanguard Press. He has sold 600 million books worldwide since his first book in 1937. Twenty four years after his death, his Dr.Seuss books are still selling 11000 copies a day in the US alone.
Let me quote an excerpt from the book A Curious Mind by David Grazer
"Geisel says he was walking home, stinging from the book's twenty-seventh rejection, with the manuscript and drawings for Mulberry Street under his arm, when an acquaintance from his student days at Dartmouth College bumped into him on the sidewalk on Madison Avenue in New York City. Mike McClintock asked what Geisel was carrying. 'That's a book no one will publish,' said Geisel. 'I'm lugging it home to burn.' McClintock had just that morning been made editor of children's books at Vanguard; he invited Geisel up to his office, and McClintock and his publisher bought Mulberry Street that day. When the book came out, the legendary book reviewer for the New Yorker, Clifton Fadiman, captured it in a single sentence: 'They say it's for children, but better get a copy for yourself and marvel at the good Dr. Seuss's impossible pictures and the moral tale of the little boy who exaggerated not wisely but too well.' Geisel would later say of meeting McClintock on the street, 'If I'd been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I'd be in the dry-cleaning business today. ..."Another wonderful example is the famous Vincent Van Gogh who sold one painting in his lifetime - to a friend. That didn't stop him from creating over 800 works of art. Today, his most expensive painting is worth $142.7 million.
And how can I forget one of my favorite bands, The Beatles - record labels kept rejecting them and one of them even said "the Beatles have no future in show business". We all know now that the Beatles is probably the greatest band in history.
Probably the greatest example of all is Thomas Edison - who never let failure stop him. He said, "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward".
With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes satin ~ Chinese Proverb
Albert Einstein said "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." and "I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right".
Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. ~ Jacob A. Riis
The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success. I want you to know that I am proud that you do not like to leave things half-way. No half-measures for you! Stick with that attitude and you'll go a long way while earning others' respect.
A to Z Challenge 2015 and going with the theme "letters to my son"
P is for Persevere
P is for Plan and pack your snacks at Life Hacks For Diabetics
P is for Play at Life Hacks For Happiness
