►2. The most wildly successful people are successful because they never quit.
Even Albert Einstein affirmed that principle. He is universally acclaimed as one of the most brilliant people who ever lived. Yet, he did not credit his brilliance for his enormous success and contributions to science. He gave the credit to his stick-to-it-ness or never quitting. As he said, “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
Other people have more than their fair reasons to quit. But those who don’t quit are the ones who have amazing stories to tell.
Take Sparky, for example. As a boy, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero.
Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra, and English. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. There was a consolation match; he lost that too.
Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward socially. He wasn’t disliked by the other students, but no one cared that much about him either. So he was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours.
There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down.
Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates, and everybody else knew it. So he rolled with it.
However, one thing was important to Sparky — drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook. The cartoons were turned down. Despite this rejection, Sparky did not quit. He was so convinced of his ability that he decided to become a professional artist.
After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork and the subject for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal of time on it and on all the other drawings he submitted. Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected once again. Another loss for the loser. But he did not quit.
Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons. He described his childhood self — a little boy loser and chronic underachiever. The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide.
For Sparky, the boy who had such lack of success in school and whose work was rejected again and again, was Charles Schulz. He created the Peanuts comic strip and the little cartoon character whose kite would never fly and who never succeeded in kicking a football — Charlie Brown.
Quite simply, Sparky learned … and you’ve got to learn … that quitting never works. Only perseverance works.
Perseverance may not always bring the exact result you want, for sure. But it always brings results that are so much better than you would ever get by merely quitting.
What have you quit in the past that you regret? Is there any reason that it would be worth your while to pick up where you left off?
What’s going on in your present life that you’re considering quitting? Why so? What reasons might you have for sticking with it?
Make sure you are writing the story of your life that you want. That will take some stick-to-it-ness, but you’re worth it.
