They never gave up...
FAILURE #1
His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed and, later, after applying and being turned down for a part-time job as a high school teacher, he ended up returning to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, a business he was forced to close when he ran afoul of a British officer. He faced the discrimination directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third-class coach while holding a valid first-class ticket. Traveling farther on by stagecoach he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels.
SUCCESS #1
He ended up being spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered Satyagraha —resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, a philosophy firmly founded upon Ahimsa or total nonviolence—which helped India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
He is officially honored in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.
Who was he? Obviously, he was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948). "The weak can't forgive. Forgiveness is of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi. To know more about Mahatma Gandhi, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi
FAILURE #2
He did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.
SUCCESS #2
He is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect." His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semi classical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation.
Don't go in the nitty-gritty of these inventions. Even I am hearing some of these scientific terms first time.
He ended up publishing more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works; he additionally wrote and commentated prolifically on various philosophical and political subjects. His great intelligence and originality has made the word "Einstein" synonymous with genius.
Hope you know now who was he? He was Albert Einstein (14 March 1879–18 April 1955). To know more about Albert Einstein, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
FAILURE #3
His teacher said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, he made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" He replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
SUCCESS #3
He was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.
Who was he? He was Thomas Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931). To learn more about Thomas Edison, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
FAILURE #4
He failed and went broke five times before he succeeded. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry.
SUCCESS #4
The founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. He was a prolific inventor.
Who was he? He was Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947). To learn more about Henry Ford, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_ford
FAILURE #5
He was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."
SUCCESS #5
He ended up serving as the 16th President of the United States. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery.
Who was he? He was Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865). Learn more about Abraham Lincoln at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln
So what we learned from this?
We learned that every individual has potential to do something great. The only challenge is that how to find it. It is possible that you will never find it in your life time unless you have desire to search for it. In that process, you might fail several times... but success is inevitable if you have a desire to achieve something in life. You will never win unless you attempt for it. So what shall we do to find those hidden potentials? It is very simple, Never, Never, Ever Give Up.
Never kill your desire to do something great. Never say that it is impossible. In fact, the word impossible itself says that “I-M-POSSIBLE”. Let me explain you a vicious cycle and something that you should read between the lines.
You might have hidden potentials you will never know unless you try to find it (take action). You won't find it unless it is tested (accept any result). It won't be tested unless you are ready to fail in it (accept any result). You will fail if you won't have desire to pass in it (be ambitious). You won’t pass if you won't attempt it (take action). You won't attempt it unless you have hope of achieving it (be ambitious). You won't achieve it unless you have potentials to success in it (be ambitious). But you know every individual has potential to do something great.
So where are we going on this? It boils down to 3 A's. Action - Accept - Ambition.
Be ready to take ACTION if you know it is good for you, for the society and for the humanity.
Be ready to ACCEPT failure. "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." ~ Confucius.
Have an AMBITION to do something great for the humanity.
So take action, accept failure, have ambition in life and never ever give up.
Do you have something that you started but never finished... believe me it is never too late. This is the right time to resume it again. You already know the reason why you were not able to finish it. Bank on the Lessons Learned.
Let me end this blog with a famous quote "The time is always right to do what is right" - Martin Luther King.
Do you agree with this... Do you have more examples... any thought/website that inspired you to never give up?
