DON"T QUIT: an inspirational poem to cheer in life's dire moments

DON'T QUIT - AUTHOR ANON There are literally thousands of examples of people repeatedly failing before they succeeded. Here are just ten more examples. 1.Henry Ford  The first automobile Ford designed was the Quadricycle, which wasn’t fit for mass production. Then Ford founded the Detroit Automotive Company, which failed because Ford’s perfectionism got the better of him and he couldn’t stop tinkering. Ford had little to show for his work 18 months into the effort, and the company was disbanded. Ford eventually started Ford Motor Company and built the Model A. The first batch had so many problems that Ford had to send mechanics throughout the country to fix the cars. The good news, the mechanics came back with ideas to improve the cars, and that knowledge went into correcting the future builds. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”  2. Orville and Wilbur Wright After several years of building kites and gliders (and numerous crashes), the brothers changed the world on Dec 17, 1903 when they broke the bounds of gravity and flew a manned heavier-than-air machine. And this was achieved by two men with no formal engineering training. The two brothers were originally inspired by a toy helicopter that their father brought home and flew around the room. Orville took his father on what was his dad’s one and only flight. As Orville gained elevation, his dad enthusiastically yelled out… “Higher Orville, higher!” When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, inside his spacesuit pocket was a piece of fabric from the wing of the original Wright Flyer. 3. Thomas Edison His grade school teachers said he was “Too stupid to learn anything.” Yet he helped develop many inventions that ushered in the modern age, including the motion picture camera, the phonograph and a practical light bulb. Edison was also an extraordinary businessman who was an early advocate of mass production and teamwork in the process of innovation, with over 1,000 US patents. 4. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln had his share of setbacks including failing in business, failing to get into law school, suffered from depression, being defeated for nomination to Congress and being defeated for nomination for Vice President. He continually kept moving forward, and was elected President in 1860. 5. Vincent Van Gogh  Van Gogh sold a single painting during his lifetime, yet he completed over 800 works. Once he gave a painting to a Doctor Rey as thanks for his services, and the physician then used the gift to cover a hole in the roof of his chicken coop. Today his painting “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” (different than the one mentioned above) has an adjusted valuation of $149 million. “A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.” 6. S Honda  Honda started a machine shop in 1937 to produce piston rings for Toyota, where he labored long hours and even slept in the workshop. To keep things going, he pawned his wife’s jewelry. Unfortunately, his product failed to meet Toyota’s quality inspection standards and was rejected. Rather than give up, he went back to school and kept working until winning a contract with Toyota two years later. As steel was not readily available during the war, he collected surplus gasoline cans discarded by US fighters, calling them “Gifts from President Truman,” which he used as raw materials for manufacturing. Honda endured his factory being devastated by a bomb and then later being destroyed by an earthquake. The gasoline shortage after the war resulted in people walking or riding bicycles, so Honda started modifying bicyles by attaching a small bicycle engines. Honda Motor Company ‘s revenue was $119 Billion in 2014. 7. Akio Morita His first company was called Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp, which came out with a rice cooker that burnt rice and ended up selling poorly. Rather than making knock-off products like many other Japanese companies, Morita wanted to develop quality innovative companies, and focused on a pocketsize radio. The best he could develop was just a bit too large for a typical pocket, so he had his salesmen wear shirts with oversized pockets so the radio would fit. Morita also foresaw the importance of branding, and changed the name of his company to Sony. 8. J.K. Rowling At one point a single mom without a job, Rowling was living off unemployment benefits, had an unfinished book and two mouths to feed. She was rejected by twelve different publishers, and began to lose confidence in her book. Finally, Barry Cunningham, an editor at Bloomsbury Publishing agree to publish the book (in part because his 8 year old daughter liked the first chapter), though Rowling was admonished to get a day job because she wouldn’t make any money writing children’s books. She said, “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebult my life.” Today, JK Rowling is worth approximately $1Billion. 9. Elvis Presley The King hardly needs an introduction. Yet when Presley tried out as a vocalist for the Eddie Bond band, Bond rejected him with the advice to stick to driving “because you’re never going to make it as a singer.” Similarly, Presley was told by Jim Denny, the Manager of the Grand Ole Opry, “You aint going nowhere son, you ought to be back to driving a truck.” 10. Oprah Winfrey  Born in economically troubled neighborhood and raised by a single teenage mom, Oprah experienced considerable hardship, including being physically abused as a teenager. Winfrey is a media proprietor, talk show host, actress and philanthropist. Her net worth is $3 Billion. And the eleventh person in this list could be you! Keep up your morale in downtime. Success is never permanent but failure can be a stepping stone to further failure. If you dont fightback after a setback. Best wishes Dr Wilfred Monteiro