Every success story is also a story of great failures

We see only the success of people but not their failures. We also say that people are successful because they were at the right time and right place. But this is illogical.

Tom Watson, a great businessman, said, ‘If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.’ It means that one should keep trying and failing before succeeding.

Abraham Lincoln failed numerous times before being elected to the position of the President of the United States of America. He always believed that ‘defeat is a detour but not a dead-end’. It means that we need to try another possible course of action when we fail in one direction.

Lee De Forest, a great inventor, who invented the triodes tubes was humiliated publicly for saying something that people could not believe. He said he could send human voice to a distant place.

The Wright Brothers were ridiculed by the editor of ‘The Times’ newspaper. Proving everyone wrong, the Wright Brothers flew their machines after a week at Kitty Hawk.

At the age of retirement Colonol Harland David Sanders founded KFC, (Kentucky Fried Chicken) the world famous restaurant. He tried almost a thousand times before becoming successful.

Walt Disney who was rejected by many newspaper editors, created the great Mickey Mouse character which is the most favourite of children.

Thomas Edison was considered stupid by his teacher. But his mother never told his partially-deaf son what the teachers felt about him. He went on to invent the light bulb, the famous invention. Edison’s great attitude came into limelight when he lost his factory on fire. He said that there is a great value in disaster. He invented the phonograph one week after this disaster.

Similarly, Henry Ford was without money (bankrupt) at the age of 40. But he bounced back and became successful. Lee Iacocca who was fired by Henry Ford II, became a great business man and writer.

Napoleon Hill, the author of the great book ‘Think and grow rich’ said, ‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve’.

Socrates stated that a burning desire is the secret to success. He said, ‘Just like small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results.