โDonโt ever give up; Donโt ever give upโ โ Jim Valvano (national championship winning basketball coach) receiving the Arthur Ashe hero award.
Perseverance is defined as, โpersistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.โ This is a wonderful message for those who are in business, have a career, or better yet โ have a dream.
Some noted failures give us much hope! Take a guess, and see the answers at the end of the article.
1. He was considered the greatest genius of the twentieth century. He never spoke until he was four-years-old.
2. This baseball legend struck out over 1,300 times.
3. His music teacher once said of him, โAs a composer, he is hopeless.โ
4. One of the founders of the modern department store got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. His employer would not allow him to wait on customers because he didnโt have enough sense to close a sale.
5. This great scientist did poorly at school and was considered unpromising.
6. Was told by his teacher that he was too stupid to learn anything.
7. Was fired by a newspaper editor because he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.
8. Had to repeat a year of school after he failed the test that would have allowed him to move up a year.
9. He was rejected from seven colleges such as Dayton, Edinboro, Saint Vincent, American University, and three others. He went on to earn a degree in business from a small Maryland college. (Someone was willing to give him a chance). Was a C.M. Stanley Award winner for Excellence. Was named instructor of the year three times, at two different higher education institutions, and earned a Doctorate Degree in Education.
Entrepreneurs dream. A wonderful example that touches close to home is C. Maxwell Stanley and a group of businesspeople who had a dream of providing jobs for returning veterans after World War II. This company is now known as HNI Corp. In business, individuals who start and run businesses had better dream. They must have vision. Do you have a vision? If not, you should!
There are success stories everywhere. I used a handyman service the other day. He did a great job. I root for individuals like this. On โAmericaโs Got Talentโ I watched a comedian with cerebral palsy. Reminds me of another successful individual I know with Cerebral Palsy.
The message: Donโt ever give up โ it can be done. Along the way, there will be challenges and setbacks! Life is not perfect and the path to success becomes a marathon and not a sprint.
Answers to our questions above:
1. Albert Einstein
2. Babe Ruth
3. Beethoven
4. F.W. Woolworth
5. Isaac Newton
6. Thomas Edison
7. Walt Disney
8. Winston Churchill
9. I will let you guess this one. He lives in Muscatine.
