Feel like giving up? ……..Never Give up!

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” -Albert Einstein

I have never ceased to be amazed by the number of people who quit in life or give up on their dreams. I didn’t understand why people could quit on dreams that are sometimes so laudable and achievable and that could be so beautiful and so rewarding. I later realised that quitting is something that we see in every industry. Bankers quit, programmers quit. In fact, someone once told me of an IBM interview where 50% of the people who qualified for the interview didn’t show up. They quit before they started!

The temptation is not just for you. But you can make a difference. You must be committed to your dreams. Most people never make it because they quit too early.

FAILURE CANNOT HANDLE PERSISTENCE. Persistence always wins in the end!”

If there is one big thing I would like you to learn from me, it is that you must not give up on your dreams. Don’t stop dreaming because you failed the first, second or the third time.
The project failed temporarily, but you are not a failure! The relationship ended, but you are not a failure. Don’t stop dreaming because someone else does not believe in your dreams or because your attempts didn’t succeed at once!

Thomas Edison tried about 10,000 experiments before he created the first successful light bulb. He didn’t give up, and became one of the most prolific inventors of all time with over 1,000 patents to his name. He later said about his failed attempts at the electric lamp; “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work!” what an idea! He also said that “many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” He didn’t give up, and he became a great advocate for hard work. “Genius” he said, “is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration”

There are countless examples of famous people who made it after years of not giving up. They set good examples for us, never to give up! But you see, man’s first instinct under pressure is to run, to extricate or remove himself from the situation. When we run from a problem or give up, we immediately flunk the test. If we must be winners in life we cannot be sluggards or quitters. Nothing can defeat us except our own unbelief.

Many years ago my father gave me a book titled “100 Great Lives”. In it, I read of a young man who was not given any chance to make it big in life. He had no beauty or charming smile to pave the way for him. In fact, his own father’s description of him was. “He looked as if he had been badly cut with an axe and needed smoothing with a jackplane.”

His goal was to become a member of the legislature. He joined politics, strove manfully, and was defeated. So he decided he should go into business. The result was that he went bankrupt and spent many years paying off the bad debt of his crooked partner. He started a law practice and it was a failure. He fell in love with a beautiful woman and death snatched her out of his hand. Then He decided to be a full time politician. He ran for congress and lost. Twice he became a candidate for the senate and was defeated. He became a candidate for the vice-presidency, and he was rejected.

If any had reason to quit, this man did! He had a young son who was the darling of his life. And the boy died. Did he give up? No, he didn’t, though many a lesser man would have. Today, in Washington D. C. you can look up into his face filled with sorrow and compassion and yet with a certain determination as he sits there in his great white chair in the Lincoln monument and looks down upon the union he saved and the slaves he freed. He didn’t quit! He became an “over-comer”. He prevailed and made it to the throne (of the United States of America). Abraham Lincoln, though dead, still speaks to me and to you!

Ah! My young friend, you may feel you have failed in every opportunity you have been given in life so far. Or that you have messed up every chance of achieving success in your school work and professional life. I’ve got news for you! The race is still on. You can still make a difference; you can start correcting the errors of the past, so that you can make something out of your life. It is better late than never. We are not made for defeat.

Are you at a crossroad, in your life? Do you feel overwhelmed with problems at school or at home? Do you feel like you are a failure? Do you feel like giving up on that dream? You are closer to victory than you imagine!

Strength, my friend, springs out of weakness! Life emerges out of death! Victory is secured in the heat of battle! The ‘crown’ of success goes only to those who stick it to the end. Quitters receive no crowns, the fearful go empty handed, but he who endures till the end shall be successful!

See you at The Top!
Tola Adeliyi