‘I don’t have a job’, ‘I am from a poor family’, ‘I’m just not lucky enough’, ‘Things are too hard for me’, ‘This country is terrible, I wish I was born elsewhere’, ‘There is no hope that I will become successful someday’, ‘It’s too late’, ‘I don’t have the qualifications’… What other excuses or complaints do you have? Get a sheet of paper and begin to write them down. That is your certificate of failure.
Everyone has challenges, maybe you did not know. So why are you trying to make a presentation out of yours. Probably, it will do you good to seek some advice or encouragement from the mad man, or the prisoner, or most of all, the dead. They will have a lot to tell you.
If we all have challenges, why do some people still make it? Why do some people still make the most of their lives against all odds? This is the information you need to know, rather than ask ‘why me?’ I have studied the lives of quite a number of ordinary people with great challenges who still became successful and one thing they have in common is that THEY USED WHAT THEY HAD. Maybe you need to see for yourself.
Wilma Rudolph was the first American woman runner to win three gold medals in the Olympic Games, despite having double pneumonia and scarlet fever as a young child and her inability to walk without braces until age 11. Wilma had a passion to run.
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States is known as the author of the declaration of Independence. Jefferson was not a gifted speaker, but it was his literary talent that made him a valuable contributor when resolutions and other public papers were drafted. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he used his pen rather than his voice to present his cause. At 33, he drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Edison patented 1093 inventions in his lifetime. It was the curiosity in his blood that eventually drove him into being an inventor and businessman. He received his first patent at 22, but at 29, he had already 100 U.S. patents to his approval.
Stacie Orrico, the Grammy Award-nominated pop singer and song-writer, wrote her first song at the age of six. She was discovered as a talented singer at 12. She released a gold-selling debut album at 14, and traveled the globe to support her international best-selling follow-up at 17. By the age of 18, Orrico had sold more than 3.4 million albums worldwide. Just one talent.
Pele, a South American superstar and Top Brazilian goal-scorer of all-time, became the world's most famous and highest-paid athlete when he joined a North American team in 1975. He led the Brazilian national soccer team to three World Cup victories in 1958, 1962, and 1970. The world's National Olympics Committees voted him as No. 1 in their top five Athletes of the 20th Century even though he's the only one of the five who didn't take part in the Olympics. He scored 1281 goals in 1363 matches – an all-time world record. He discovered his talent as a footballer when he was young, and that is all he needed to be a Legend. He was so good that wars were stopped to have him play football.
So, what do you have? Now, you no longer have any excuses.
