Would you rather be called a quitter or a failure? Both are always an option. Rarely is life ever “win or lose” but more often “succeed, fail or quit”. The words “succeed” and “quit” assign the outcome as a direct decision of the person attempting the task. You have to make choices to succeed. You have to make a choice to quit, but making a choice to fail is just another form of quitting.
Failure is an outcome attached to one attempt. Failure over many attempts doesn’t make you a quitter. You can spend a lifetime not succeeding at something and rarely will anyone call you a failure. You will most likely be looked up to as someone with determination and perseverance, that in itself is an achievement.
Perseverance is defined as “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success”. Difficulty is something that every person faces. From the smallest to the largest task, every human understands difficulty in achievements. We often forget the last part of that definition … “delay”.
In 1978, at the age of 28, Swimmer Diana Nyad attempted to be the first person to swim from Havana Cuba to Key West. Her first attempt ended with her drastically off course in 8 foot swells. She didn’t attempt it again for another 33 years. In August of 2011 her second attempt ended 29 hours into the swim because of a major asthma attack. Her third attempt, a month later in September, ended because of box jellyfish stings to her forearms and neck. Attempt number 4 began and ended in August 2012 because of 2 storms and more jellyfish stings. Her fifth attempt started August 31st 2013 and ended over 100 miles and 53 hours later on a beautiful beach in Key West Florida. At the age of 64 she became the first person in history to swim from Cuba to Florida.
One of the coolest things about being in the music business is the people I get to meet. At one of the places I DJ there was a very strong door man named Derek who obviously didn’t get strong from giving up. Even though he has moved on from being our doorman to working in the joint and muscle rehabilitation field, I still follow him on Facebook because of his “never give up” posts. Recently he posted a video from the movie Rocky 4 and a simple quote “It never gets easier, you just get stronger”. His reference was about weight lifting but it can be a powerful mantra for life. Sometimes you just have to keep doing something to get better at it. Even if you fail over and over you are getting better. 200 pounds will always be 200 pounds no matter how many times you try to lift it. It will only seem easier because of what you gain from the times you tried and failed. Strength through perseverance.
Sports have always been a big part of my life but these lessons in perseverance can apply to anything. Sometime to get some inspiration you need to watch someone do the “impossible”. Lets look at a few people who became “Successes” because they didn’t give up and didn’t see what they were doing as impossible.
- Winston Churchill was defeated in every single election for public office until he became Prime Minister of Great Britain at the age of 62.
- Howard Schultz thought a european trend of coffee bars would work well in the United States. He was turned down by 242 different investors before someone gave him a chance. Now with over 18,000 stores in 62 countries Starbucks is the biggest retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
- Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was “too awkward and clumsy.” He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon, the US Open, eight Davis Cups and even his own line of shoes still sold by Adidas to this day.
- Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director after his first audition “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
- Michael Caine was told by his headmaster “You will be a laborer all your life.” Michael went on to win 2 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes not to mention being knighted Sir Michael Caine.
- General Douglas MacArthur applied for admission to West Point and was turned down, not once but twice. He was excepted after his third application and retired a 5 star general.
- Jack canfield and Mark Victor Hansen co-authored a book that was turned down by 33 publishers in New York and another 90 at the American Booksellers Association before Health Communications Inc agreed to publish it. Now Chicken Soup For The Soul has sold more than 8 million copies with a follow up series of 32 titles in 31 languages selling over 53 million copies.
There are so many ways I could end this article, but I want to take an excerpt from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt and a quote I made up a few years ago.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Sometimes the only difference between the winner and the loser is the winner was just the last person to quit.” – Michael Joseph