| Failure! What do you feel when you think about | | | | * Quaker Oats went bankrupt three times, as did |
| failure? Inadequate? Unworthy? Unlovable? It is so | | | | Wrigley from Wrigley's Gum. Pepsi-Cola went |
| sad that you might have learned to link failure to | | | | bankrupt twice. Other famous companies that |
| your value as a person. | | | | also went bankrupt are Birds Eye Frozen Foods, |
| Most people who are successful in their work and | | | | Borden's, and Aunt Jemima. |
| their relationships have experienced many failures | | | | * Albert Einstein did poorly in elementary school, |
| along their road to success. Thomas Edison, the | | | | and he failed his first college entrance exam at |
| inventor of the electric bulb, is often quoted | | | | Zurich Polytechnic. |
| regarding failure: | | | | * Winston Churchill had a lifetime of defeats and |
| "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways | | | | setbacks before becoming prime minister of |
| that won't work.""I am not discouraged, because | | | | England at age 62. All of his greatest |
| every wrong attempt discarded is another step | | | | accomplishments and contributions came when he |
| forward." | | | | was a senior citizen. |
| "Many of life's failures are men who did not realize | | | | * Sir Laurence Olivier, one of the greatest actors |
| how close they were to success when they gave | | | | of the 20th century, tripped over the door sill and |
| up." | | | | fell headfirst into the floodlights the very first time |
| "Show me a thoroughly satisfied man, and I will | | | | he had ever set foot on the professional stage! |
| show you a failure." | | | | * Woody Allen flunked motion picture production |
| If Edison has been afraid of failure, or believed | | | | at New York University and the City College of |
| that failure meant he was inadequate, he would | | | | New York and failed English at N.Y.U. |
| never have invented the light bulb! | | | | * Astronaut Ed Gibson flunked first and fourth |
| In order to achieve success in any area of your | | | | grades. |
| life, you need to redefine failure. Instead of seeing | | | | * Lucille Ball was once dismissed from drama |
| failure as an indication of your inadequacy or lack | | | | school for being too quiet and shy. |
| of worth, you need to see failure as a | | | | If these successful people had been afraid of |
| stepping-stone to success. Some of the most | | | | failure, they would never have offered the world |
| financially successful people experienced repeated | | | | their talents. They were able to go on to success |
| failures. | | | | because they saw failure as a learning opportunity |
| * Walt Disney was a high school drop out who | | | | rather than as an indication of their inadequacy. |
| suffered bankruptcy and repeated financial and | | | | Are you ready to change your concept of failure? |
| business disasters. | | | | Are you ready to let go of worrying about what |
| * Milton Hershey, chocolate maker and founder of | | | | failure says about you and just learn from it? Are |
| the famous Hershey Foods Corp., found success | | | | you ready to free your soul to do what you |
| only after filing for bankruptcy for his first four | | | | really want to do? |
| candy companies. | | | | If the fear of failure is stopping you from doing |
| * Henry Ford filed for bankruptcy for the first car | | | | what you really want to do, I want to encourage |
| company he started. He didn't succeed until he | | | | you to change your concept of failure. I want to |
| started his third company, Ford Motor Company. | | | | encourage you to let go of your old way of |
| * After P.T. Barnum, American showman, went | | | | seeing failure and start to envision failures as |
| bankrupt, he joined forces with circus operator | | | | learning opportunities on the way to success. Just |
| James A. Bailey to found Barnum and Bailey's | | | | as Thomas Edison did, I encourage you to see |
| Greatest Show on Earth. | | | | every failure as a step forward! |