« on hearing "no" »

Did you know Abraham Lincoln ran for office nine times in twenty-nine years before being elected to any office for the first time. He was elected president. Click on the image to see the outline.

Thomas Edison tried and failed over 3000 times to get a light bulb to work. Three thousand times. Seriously. 

During an interview Thomas Edison was once asked about how discouraging that is must have been to fail so many times during all of his experimentation in his life.  Here is his paraphrased response “Failed? — why we haven't failed, we only know the thousands of ways that won't work”.

“No” has become a word foreign to me.  It does not mean I always get what I want.  Ha, not even close!  It means when one door closes I will forever and always look for another door to open.  It means never to give up or give in.  Success comes with dedication and determination.  It does not come from a fleeing thought that might work.  The only way to achieve is to do.  And I have fallen on my face a lot in this quest.  But I know that I will get back up every time. 

When I hear the word no, my skin crawls.  Maybe its part of my rebellious nature, but to say no before even considering how it could be possible is very narrow-minded in my opinion.  Because I think there is always a way. Always.

A mentor of mine was a competitive downhill snow skier before moving to Florida.  His ski coach used to tell him that if he was not ever falling then he wasn’t going fast enough. 

We have to fail in order to succeed. We are all faced with challenges while on this journey.  It is how we respond that is important.  I for one believe that no is not an option but more of a defeated response from lack of effort.  Anyways, enough of my soapbox banter! Here is a great quote that I wanted to share: 

“Man in the Arena” by President Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled; or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at his best, knows the end of triumph of high achievement; and who knows 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 know neither victory or defeat.”