failure is just the first step

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

Isaac Newton never did well in school.

Thomas Edison’s teachers told him that he was “too stupid to learn anything.”…

If you are failing, keep on going. The current obstacles are the foundation of your future success.

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1. Albert Einstein » Physicist
Best known for the General Theory of Relativity.

Most of us take Einstein’s name as synonymous with genius, but he didn’t always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social.

Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.

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2. Walt Disney » Business Man
Founder of The Walt Disney Company.

Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.”

After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

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3. Isaac Newton » Scientist
Best known for: Universal gravitation, Newton’s method,
Newtonian mechanics, Optics, Infinitesimal calculus.

Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.

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4. Thomas Edison » Inventor and Businessman
Best known for Electric Light Bulb.

In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything.”

Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.

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5. Henry Ford » Business Man
Founder of Ford Motor.

While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn’t an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.

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6. Soichiro Honda » Business Man
Founder of Honda Motor.

The billion-dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time.

He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business.

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7. Akio Morita » Business Man
Founder of Sony Corporation.

You may not have heard of Morita but you’ve undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony.

Sony’s first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn’t cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn’t stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.

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8. Orville and Wilbur Wright (Wright Brothers) » Airplane Inventors
Education: Completed High School.

These brothers battled depression and family illness before starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with flight.

After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

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9. Winston Churchill » UK Politician

This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasn’t always as well regarded as he is today.

Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.

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10. Abraham Lincoln » US Politician

While today he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation, Lincoln’s life wasn’t so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if you’re not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.)

Lincoln didn’t stop failing there, however. He started numerous failed business and was defeated in numerous runs he made for public office.

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11. Vincent Van Gogh » Artist

During his lifetime, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a friend and only for a very small amount of money.

While Van Gogh was never a success during his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works.

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12. Michael Jordan » Basketball Player

Most people wouldn’t believe that the man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team.

Luckily, Jordan didn’t let this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

“Next time you’re feeling down about your failures in college or in a career, keep these famous people in mind and remind yourself that sometimes failure is just the first step

PERCEPTION . . . Something To Think About. . .

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children.. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly..

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing????????????????

Story of Friendship & Values…

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert.
During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one
friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt,
but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis,
where they decided to take a bath. The one who
had been slapped got stuck in the mire and
started drowning, but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near
drowning, he wrote on a stone:
TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.
The friend who had slapped and
saved his best friend asked him,

“After I hurt you, you wrote in the
sand and now, you write on a stone,
why?” The other friend replied “When someone
hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds
of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone
does something good for us, we must engrave
it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND
AND T O CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person,
an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them,
but then an entire life to forget them.
Send this phrase to the people you’ll never
forget. It’s a short message to let them
know that you’ll never forget them.

– MORAL –

Do not value the THINGS you have in your life..
But value WHO you have in your life!

You are a genius

Throughout our life, we have met people who seem to have more intelligence than the rest of us. We term these people brilliant, smart or address them as genius. We may assume that their intelligence is God’s gift to them. Perhaps you are one of these gifted souls yourself.  Then there are others who find it hard to concentrate and perform well academically, struggle with assigned jobs, to learn new things, and perhaps wish that they were more like those geniuses.

A competitive society places a lot of importance on intelligence. Intelligent people are considered valuable everywhere. People who display lower levels of intelligence fear the consequences of not being able to keep up with the peers in their respective fields. When our children perform well academically, we proudly rejoice and share their performance with everyone around us. On the other hand, when the child is struggling academically, it causes much anxiety and worry to parents. 

Do you struggle academically and in your career? Do you  consider yourself dull and wished that your were smarter? Or do you just wish to do better at the tasks that you take up? The good news is that you are already a genius, just that you may or may not know it. Even top performers use only a small percentage of their brains, and it follows that each one of us has a potential within us to be a genius. It is a myth that geniuses are born that way. In reality, geniuses are the ones who have developed their inner capabilities more than others.

If you believe that your intelligence is static and cannot be enhanced,  consider this. The performance of  students who are otherwise brilliant suffer greatly after experiencing some traumatic event in their lives. The same students are not able to learn and retain like they used to. Sometimes, the drop in academic performance is so drastic, that a top student might get failing grades in school after experiencing the trauma, until the situation is correct by therapy. The same is true with adults as well. This suggests that clearly there is something more to performance besides raw intelligence and genetics. 

Why is it that some people perform higher than others?

The following observation from geography helps to understand this better. In the Indian subcontinent, many rivers originate in the Himalayas. Most of these rivers break up into smaller distributaries, until they get either land locked or dried up by the sun. The rivers that break up into smaller streams and distributaries never reach the ocean.  On the other hand, the river Ganges, which also starts in the Himalayas, continues to flow steadfastly south east  without breaking up, and is able to pour its waters into the Bay of Bengal. The fact that the Ganges flows without dividing herself is the dominant reason for her to be able to reach the ocean. 

The path of the river ganges.

Such is the case with the intelligence of the human mind. People who are able to focus their thoughts on a particular subject with undivided attention appear to be more intelligent than others. In reality the same potential exists in the rest of us as well.  Genius is less about the faculty of intelligence itself, and more about the ability to concentrate on a specific task without getting distracted.

Swami Vivekananda

As swami Vivekananda said:

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.”

Now the question is, why is it that some people are able to give undivided attention to what they take up, whereas some others are not able to?

There are two reasons for this:

1. A high goal that greatly inspires and motivates the individual
2. A mind that is free from distraction

 Let us take this up this up one by one:

1) A high goal that greatly inspires and motivates the individual 

Until and unless an individual selects a task that greatly inspires and motivates him, his full potential does not get unleashed. This is why it is extremely important to “follow your heart”. Selecting a field of work only because of the need to survive ensures that an individual forever remains only in survival mode. All of the potential of such a  person remain dormant.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was a mediocre student in school. He was a shy, soft-spoken individual who had no great spark of intelligence or leadership in him. All that changed when he suffered discrimination in Africa due to the color of his skin. He took upon himself the goal to correct the injustices that he faced. Highly inspired and motivated with this goal, this once shy man of mediocre abilities underwent a tremendous transformation. He grew by leaps and bounds, fought diligently and untiringly towards the goal of freedom for the entire nation, and in the process introduced some of the most brilliant and powerful ideas known to fight injustice in a peaceful manner. His leadership was par excellence. No one remembers the shy mediocre student,  all of us know him as a highly powerful and revered political leader who we lovingly call “Bapu” – The father of the nation. All of us can bring out the great potential sleeping within us, if only we find a high goal that deeply inspires us, like Mahatma Gandhi did.

2) A mind that is free from distraction

As seen above in the example of the intellectual performance of people suffering after undergoing mental trauma, even people who are otherwise considered brilliant, perform poorly when the mind is distracted. Only when the mind is quietened does the intellect starts to perform to its full potential. An individual with a quiet mind is better able to make decisions that are in true alignment with his purpose, and thus increases his chances of success. Also a quiet mind conserves a lot of energy, as it is at peace. A quiet mind is more creative and intuitive. An agitated mind is more prone to negative emotions  such as anger, hatred, doubt, insecurity, unworthiness, etc, which wastes precious energy that would be otherwise channeled towards the task at hand. 

The other source of distraction come via our senses. It is not uncommon for a person’s intellectual performance to suffer when the mind is distracted thanks to  preoccupation with gratifying one of more of the senses – which is what happens when the mind deeply craves for anything. This is why people who experiencing a breakup of their relationship, or are addicted to alcohol or drugs perform well below their potential. Regular meditation reduces our cravings and aversions. It helps to cultivate a mind that is creative, intuitive, and free of distraction, which unleashes more of the power of your intellect to the tasks you undertake.

Your intelligence is not a fixed entity. You have enormous potential within you to enhance it.  Each one of us carries within us the seed of genius. Most of us preserve the seed as it, whereas some of us take that seed and grow it into a mighty tree  – and that makes all the difference in the world.  You are a genius. Once you know this and believe it completely, it is a only matter of time that the rest of the world will acknowledge it too.

“I KNEW YOU WOULD COME”……

An Inspiring Story on Friendship….Touching….This will touch your heart!!!!!!

 In a battle, a soldier prepared 2 bring this wounded friend back from the field.

His captian said,
“Its of No use! ur friend must be dead”.

But soldier still goes & brings back his friend.
Seeing the dead body, Captain says

“I told u its of no worth. He’s dead”.

The soldier replies with moist eyes:
“No sir, it was really of worth…..

When i got to him, my friend saw me, smiled & said his last words:

“I KNEW YOU WOULD COME”……
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Rare, Precious, Trustworthy, True, Strong friends…. are always there when you need them the most…