Listen to your inner voice, not the voice of skeptics.
– In 1964 four nervous musicians played their first record audition. The executives weren’t impressed telling them; “We don’t like your sound, and guitar groups are on their way out.” Can you imagine what would happen to Rock and Roll if the Beatles listened to them?
– Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. He never gave up!
– Basketball superstar Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
– Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book was rejected by 27 publishers. The 28th publisher, Vanguard Press, sold 6-million copies of that book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
– Thomas Edison’s teacher once told him that he was too stupid to learn anything. It took Thomas Edison 2000 steps to succeed at producing the light bulb. Someone once asked him how he felt having failed so many times. His response was that he didn’t fail, it just happened to be a 2000-step process.
Every problem contains within an opportunity that can change your life…Great ideas without action are only great ideas.
It’s never too late to start something new…consider these famous examples:
– Actor George Burns won his first Oscar at 80.
– Golda Meir was 71 when she became prime minister of Israel.
– At age 96, playwright George Bernard Shaw broke his leg when he fell out of a tree he was trimming in his back yard.
– Painter Grandma Moses didn’t start painting until she was 80 years old. She completed over 1500 paintings after that; 25% of those were produced when she was past 100.
– Michelangelo was 71 when he painted the Sistine chapel.
– Physician and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer was still performing operations in his African Hospital at 89.
– After years of progressive hearing loss, by age of 46 composer Ludwig van Beethoven had become completely deaf. Nevertheless, he wrote his greatest music, including five symphonies, during his later years.
Embrace mistakes and failures…All creative accomplishments are a product of trial and error. What if Thomas Edison had listened to the teacher who told him that he was too stupid to learn anything or the Beatles stopped making music? What if Walt Disney gave up on pursuing his vision? You can only imagine what our lives would be like today if they gave up on themselves and listened to the skeptics.
Never give up. Trust and believe in yourself, no matter your age, or what obstacles may come your way. Put your desires and goals on your list of priorities, and keep believing in yourself. It’s never too late.
Make Kindness a Habit,
To Your Success,
Peak Performance Coach