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He tried several experiments - all without success. He just couldn't get it right. His failures
became the talk of the town and the story goes that after he had failed for the 500th time, a
journalist interviewed him and asked him, "Mr. Edison, how does it feel to have failed 500
times? Why don't you just give up?"
"No, no, young lady," replied Edison. "I haven't failed 500 times. I have just discovered 500
ways it won't work. I am so much closer now to finding a way that will work!"
And sure enough, in 1879, Edison invented the filament light bulb, an invention that changed the
world. By the time he died, the 'man-who-failed-500-times' had 1024 patents to his credit, and
had founded the iconic General Electric company. But Edison's real contribution to mankind
went beyond all this. He showed us the power of perseverance, the virtue of learning from your
failures, and the magic of never giving up.
To succeed, one must learn to embrace failure, and not be scared by it. Failure holds valuable
lessons for us - if only we are willing to learn. "If you want to succeed, double your rate of
failure." Don't dwell on your failures. Don't play the blame game. Don't doubt your ability. Learn
from your mistakes. Re-focus on your goals. And keep going.
Very often, we do all the hard work and when we don't see the desired results, we turn around
and walk away - even though we may have been just one step away from success. The problem
is, we seldom realize we are just one step away from achieving our goals. In the highway of life,
there are no milestones telling us that success is one kilometer ahead.
The option of turning away and starting a new journey is quite easy, because in our minds, it
takes away the stigma of failure.
Look at little babies learning to walk. They try and take a few steps, they stumble and fall. Then
they stand up and try again. And bang, they fall again. They don't feel embarrassed. They just get
up and try again, until, bingo, they can walk! Think about it. If little children were like us grown-
ups and gave up after a few failed we would all have never learnt to walk!
And yet as adults, we forget that lesson. We are scared to take the first steps, because we are
scared we might fail. And the first time we taste failure, we give up.
That old truism about winners and quitters still holds good. Winners never quit. And quitters
never win.
So always remember,
1. Many of life’s failure are people who did not realize how close they were to success
when they gave up
2. You may never know what results come of your action, but f you do nothing, there will
be no result.
3. Follow your dreams. Make dedication and determination your companion. One day
success will surely be yours.
4. If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is
always no. if you don’t step forward; you’re always in the same place.
5. Nothing is impossible. The world itself says ‘I’m possible’.