Skip to main content

If At First You Don't Succeed...

I want to share with you a story of failure.

There was a guy who was a pretty normal guy. One day, like what happens to many people, he lost his job.  Naturally it only made sense to run for state legislature. That didn't exactly work out. So he figured if he couldn't do that then he'd start his own business...that didn't quite work out either. After failing in business he got the idea that now he had enough experience to run for state legislature again. This time he succeeded! Things sure were looking up now, but life threw another punch and the year after his success his "sweet heart" died. This would cause him to experience a nervous breakdown. Starting to feel sorry for this guy yet?

A few years after his nervous breakdown he ran for Congress and again was defeated. Here most people would call it quits, but not this dude. Naturally he tried to run again. This time he experienced his second success in 14 years and was elected to Congress. Two years later, he lost his spot in Congress. To add to his list of failures, our poor friend was rejected for a position as a land officer and then for a seat in the US Senate.

After this string of losses it's very clear what he had to do isn't it? I mean any person in their right mind would  obviously run for Vice President! But wouldn't you know it, he lost that too so he logically ran for US Senate two years later. You'll be surprised to know that he didn't get that spot either.

All of these losses have to prompt some to ask, how many times can a person really fail before he/she either experiences success or just quits? In this person's case 12 times(not counting other little personal failures and what not). The question that should be asked though, is how many times does a person really need to succeed? The answer is once. It's not the quantity of success, its the quality of the success experienced and no one understood this better than one of the greatest president's in American history, Abraham Lincoln. In 1860 he was elected President after a long string of failures. It was these failures that would help him develop one of the greatest qualities any person can have, persistence. It is because of his losses that he would experience his greatest victory ever...winning The Civil War.

Learn from Old Abe, if at first you don't succeed; try, try again.

Live It Up
-ZZ-

Abraham Lincoln's Resume
Lost job in 1832.
Defeated for state legislature in 1832.
Failed in business in 1833.
Elected to state legislature in 1834.
Sweetheart died in 1835.
Had nervous breakdown in 1836.
Defeated for Speaker in 1838.
Defeated for nomination for Congress in 1843.
Elected to Congress in 1846.
Lost renomination in 1848.
Rejected for land officer in 1849.
Defeated for U.S. Senate in 1854.
Defeated for nomination for Vice President in 1856.
Again defeated for U.S. Senate in 1858.
Elected President in 1860

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tied Together by a Pair of Shoes

To a runner, a pair of shoes is everything. It's the only piece of equipment that is really needed and sometimes, due to circumstances a pair of shoes can acquire great sentimental value. For me there's one pair that comes to mind. Naturally like any story, I had no idea that when I bought my first pair of Nike Air Max Motos that I would one day hold them in my hands with tears in my eyes. It was a late August day and Cross Country had just begun. I skipped out on practice to go hangout with a friend, Cody, who lived out of town. While I was staying at his house we decided that I shouldn't totally miss practice so we came up with the idea that I would just practice with his team. However, because of state regulations I couldn't practice with the team, so I just did my own workout. After the workout we went back to Cody's house and raided the kitchen cupboards and the fridge. As we sat there chowing down, Cody looked at me and said, "Dude one day you're...
2 comments
Read more

The Purpose of Life

Since the very beginning man has asked the question, "what is the purpose of life?" Well perhaps the purpose of life is “to test to the limits of the human heart.” –Bill Bowerman, Without Limits It’s to love even at the risk of not being loved back. Take on a task bigger than you knowing you might fail. Push yourself to the brink and collapse! It’s time to stop playing it safe because by doing so we’re holding ourselves back from such an amazing life. Now is the time to see what you're capable of, because “ what we do in life, echoes in eternity.” –Maximumus, Gladiator And this means you can be a positive influence in the world around you. You have it in you to be the inspiration for another. All you have to do is “live by the ABC’s; Adventurous, brave, creative.” –Walter Mitty, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Or you can do nothing, but I can only imagine there is little worse than looking back on your life and having to say to yourself , “I have done not...
Post a Comment
Read more

Just like Harry, You Don't Have to Journey Alone

With the anticipation of the final Harry Potter movie coming out, I figured it would only be right that I took a second to relate Harry Potter to all of us. I'm proud to say that I've read all of the books multiple times, and the most obvious lesson to me throughout the whole series is the importance of allowing our friends to help us with our life journey. This couldn't be clearer than in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." By the way, have no fear, there are only a few small spoilers. We all have our life journey that we are meandering through. Some moments are all sunshine and rainbows, some are dull and uneventful, while others are full of trials which require friends to help us get through. As I was reading Deathly Hallows, I was struck by how Harry acts as he is carrying the locket. His best friends are there with him, yet he feels so lonely, mainly because of the power of the locket horcrux. Similarly, perhaps you can think of a time when it felt like...
1 comment
Read more