If there is one thing I learnt from them, they DON'T QUIT. Quitting was never an option or alternative. 95% of our success or failure in life can be traced to the decisions we made at the yield point of our challenges. There is never a time in a man’s life when everything happens as planned without challenges or obstacles. That is the beauty of life.
Shortly, we will be examining the lives of Leaders, genius, businessmen, and academicians who in spite of the devastating chaos that came their way, were still able to drive their dreams to reality. We are who we are today because of the challenges of yesterday and how we were able to resolve them. If we must continue to excel, we must develop that excellent spirit of not quitting. Challenges are not curses as we see it to be most often, but an important bridge between success and failure. Problems are compulsory equations of life one must solve for success to recognize you.
Study the expression below critically:
F←A+B→S
A: Dreams, Goals, Visions, Aspirations.
B: Challenges, Obstacles, Rejections, Problems.
S: Success, Breakthrough, Reality.
F: Failure, setbacks, unfulfilled dreams
The arrows indicate the direction of our dreams
At point “A”,is the dream and vision waiting to be transformed into reality, “B” is the challenges one must overcome, and “S" is the success and reality. Firstly, a Dream(A) can become a Reality(S), if we able to put the Challenges(B) in its rightful place. How? By not quitting,(A+B→S). Beware also that; if you quit, the equation of life has no option than favour the backward expression,(F←A+B). The above equation indicates that, there is never a success, dream come through without challenges. If you are able to overcome the challenges, your success is guaranteed and if otherwise, failure becomes inevitable.
“You are too stupid to learn” said Thomas Edison’s teacher to him. With that alone, quitting would have been the best and easiest option at that moment. But that was not all. He got fired in his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Perhaps that’s why he failed 1000times before inventing the light bulb. Amazing! The interesting thing about him is this; he took failure as the best route to success. He never rejected it as his right partner to his destination neither did he complain of it disturbing his pace. He was ruggedly and doggedly determined. Believe me, that route is not a funny one neither is such a partner friendly. But that doesn’t eliminate success either. I have come to understand that many don’t go far in life because they lack understanding of this route and such a friend.
He started speaking when he was 4years of age, and learnt to read at 7. He was intellectually challenged, slow witted and anti-social as was described by his teachers and parents. Was that all? No. At 16 he failed an exam that would have offered him the opportunity to be trained as an electrical engineer. Despite these Achilles heel, he never gave up. Today, Albert Einstein is forever remembered for the Theory of Relativism. The life of Albert Einstein has made it clearer that; it doesn’t matter the conclusion of others about your future but how you accept it to be that counts when he said, “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts”.
Stephen King a renowned American Author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy got his first book rejected 30times. Guess what? He discarded the manuscript and he almost gave up. Thank God for his wife who retrieve not just the manuscript, but also, a generation of writers. Stephen King remains an inspiration to many writers including me. She encouraged him to give it a trial again. Today, his books have sold more than 350million copies. Now I understand why Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failure are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”.
If you still believe your situation doesn’t worth more trial, let us consider the life of this high spirited man, Abraham Lincoln.
Follow the résumé critically as my friends refers to it. Picture your life and that obstacle as you study through.
1831 Lost his Job
1832-Defeated in run for Illinois State
1833-Failed in Business
1834-Elected to Illinois State Legislature (Success)
1835-Sweetheart Died
1836-Had Nervous Breakdown
1838-Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
1843-Defeated in run for nomination for U.S Congress
1846-Elected to Congress (Success)
1848-Lost re-nomination.
1849-Rejected for Land Officer Position
1854-Defeated in run for U.S Senate
1856-Defeated in run for nomination for President
1858- Again defeated in run for U.S Senate
1860-Elected President (Success).
It looks an awesome glum résumé sticking your imagination how he got to the top. Doesn’t it? He never settled for excuses even after been defeated in 8 elections. What about the nervous breakdown and the death of his fiancé? They were not enough reasons to quit. We all have all it takes to get all we desire.
Instead of thinking of quitting, why not ask yourself these few questions first:
1.How can I resolve this problem?
2.Have I failed more than Lincoln?
3.What will Lincoln, Edison, or Einstein, do if he was to be in my situation?
4.Does quitting really worth it?
5.Of what benefit is quitting?
6.What if, this is the last step to my destiny?
STOP AND GO THROUGH THE QUESTIONS AGAIN
If you can sincerely asked yourself these questions in the midst of your challenges, and answer them appropriately, I believe your next action isn’t a problem.
Stop seeing every obstacle, problem, failure, rejection as a curse. One very important fact I must establish here is this; in every failure there is success, in every rejection there is projection and in every obstacle lies a miracle of greatness. Extraordinary men don’t quit, and that’s what makes them extraordinary. Why not give it one more trial. Quitting will take you nowhere.
A father once said to his boy, “Son, you have got to set a goal and never quit". Remember George Washington?
The son said, “Yes”
“Abraham Lincoln?”
“Yes”
You know what they all had in common?
“What?”
The father said, “They never quit. Remember Azador Mclgle?”
The kid said, “No. Who was he?”
“See, you don’t remember him! He quit!
To be remembered for something, you must strive on no matter what.
If you really believe in what you are doing, and you know what you want from what you are doing, quitting will only be a word found in the dictionary. Never, never, never quit, said Winston Churchill.
Lastly, challenges do not just come empty handed, but with packages of success and failure. The choice is yours. As for me, I will choose success by not quitting and I enjoin you to do same. And this can be summed up in the words of Nelson Mandela; “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall."
If Edison, Lincoln, Ford, and Einstein could do it, you too can do it far better. Pick up the plough and never look back, buddy!
ACHA HARRISON
No comments:
Post a Comment