It is a fact that people achieve great things in life, not by all their skill and talent, not because they were born amazing and not because they had it all together. They achieve great things and leave behind a great legacy, because they have learned to overcome some of life’s hardest situations.
In this section, we would like to share a few thoughts with you. If you will allow them to, these thoughts will change your prespective on life forever and will enable you to overcome where others fall.
Learning How to Deal with Failure
Any individual who wants to do something with their life – be a success, aspire to achieve, maximise their potential, impact their world – has to learn how to deal with failure, making mistakes and getting things wrong. This indeed is one of the greatest secrets and keys to success.
Throughout history one sees a pattern in the lives of those who have achieved anything in this life, whether it be becoming famous, owning their own business, earning lots of money, raising a wholesome family, being a professional sportsman… they have all failed many times, but they have learnt how to use their failures as stepping stones and spring boards to greater success.
It took Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb, 1000 attempts before he succeeded in developping this phenomenal invention. What would have happened had he given up on the first attempt or the nine hundred and ninety-ninth one? When questioned about this, he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
Michael Jordan, world-renowned for his basketball fame, missed shots in his career. He has been heard to have said, “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.”
Walt Disney, the founder of everything ‘Disney’, was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
Richard Branson, the man behind the ‘Virgin’ brand, failed exams at school, had business ventures fail, failed in attempts to go round the world in a hot air balloon, and got into major debt.
Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), only began his dream at 65 years old. He received 1009 “no’s” for his fried chicken recipe, before he finally received a “yes”.
and the list goes on…
The simple message: Don’t let your failures, disappointments or mistakes be final. REFUSE TO QUIT! REFUSE TO THINK LESS OF YOURSELF! LEARN FROM THEM AND TRY AGAIN!!!
Firstly, it’s important to know that getting something wrong isn’t bad, but is simply an opportunity to learn something new and be better prepared next time.
Secondly, our value is not determined by our performance or achievement. WE ARE VALUABLE – full stop! You may have failed at something, but you are never a failure!!
If we can be prepared to learn from our failures and adjust what we need to change; if we can develop and sharpen that which can be improved with better preparation and training; if we can do all this whilst not thinking less of ourselves at the same time, then we will be amazed at what we can accomplish.
The factor that separates those who reach their success and destiny in life, and those that don’t, is the difference between those who give up along the journey, and those who don’t. It has been found that those who achieve greatness in life are not those that have the most talent, but simply those who have never given up, have persevered and endured, and have continued to improve, learn and change that which is within their power.
So, make a determined decision to do whatever it takes to get wherever you want to go. Let perseverance, hard work and sheer grit be your focus – not winning or losing. You can only win and never lose when you’ve tried your best and given your all. You will always be a bigger and better person, no matter the outcome. Let your greatest glory be found in rising up every time that you fall!!
Motivational Quotes
The following is a selection of inspirational quotes from inspirational men and women. May these quotes inspire you to believe for greater things and motivate you to do what it takes to get there…
Life is 10% what happens and 90% how we respond to it. When attitude is right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme and no challenge too great.
—Charles Swindell
‘Watch your thoughts for they will become words. Watch your words because they will feed back into your mind and become actions. Understand your actions because they will become habits. Study your habits because they will become your character. Develop your character because it will become your destiny.
—Pastor John Hagee
Genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
—Thomas Edison
Performance vs. Character
We live in such a performance-orientated and role-related society, where much value and importance can be assigned to differing individuals, based on what they do, achieve, and are good at.
This can put a lot of pressure on individuals to achieve certain role expectations and cause many individuals to believe they are a failure, and to think and feel like one if they don’t. But should our worth and value be determined by what we achieve and do or by who we are? What is more important to us?
I would like to propose that in a world where so much of life can be belittled and undermined, our primary focus should be who we are before what we do. In fact this is one of the most revelatory insights, when you realise and recognise that you can choose who and what you shall be like and give yourself to the journey of becoming that individual.
You are empowered! You are no longer a victim of life nor society. It is from this place then that what you do can flow out of who you are so fully and gloriously. We should encourage ourselves to stop and think what type of person we want to be, what character traits we want to embody, and what values we want to uphold in our lives.
A good principle to help us form a conclusion about this is the age old principle of ‘treat others as you want to be treated’. Do you appreciate rudeness, unkindness, deceit, laziness, superficiality, misuse, selfishness? If not, then make a decision not to be nor become this type of individual — consciously give yourself to the process of becoming a person with a character that is a blessing to be around, positively impacting others and able to be counted upon. We should focus much more on the development of our characters, not just the development of our knowledge, skills and achievements. In fact our greatest achievement is becoming the person we believe in becoming