Success comes from not quitting

Inspirational stories and facts about taking chances and not giving up

If you ever want to be successful in career and life, you must not be afraid to take risks - and to fail. That's right. You can't have success and victory without facing failure and defeat and getting back up to try again.

Here are some real examples of everyday people like you and me that etched their names in the history books with their successes. If they didn't choose to learn from their mistakes and defeats and get back up for more, we may have never heard of them.

Cy Young, 1902.

Cy Young - Having played for five American League baseball teams in his 22-year career (1890-1911), this pitcher has an annual award named after him. The Cy Young Award is given to one American League and one National League pitcher each year for having an exceptional season. He still holds the major league record for most career wins at 511. But guess what else? He also holds the major league record for the most career losses, as well - at 316. Do you think all of those losses racking up over the years stopped him from going out there to give it his best and try again? Not a chance. To this day, Young also holds major league records for most career games started (815), most career innings pitched (7,356), and most complete games (749). Young's career is a perfect example of how it's not possible to achieve the successes without encountering and overcoming the failures along the way.

Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson - Babe Ruth held the all-time home run record for decades before Hank Aaron took it and, decades after Aaron, Barry Bonds. But for quite a while there, Ruth also held the record for most strikeouts! That record has now been held for quite a while by another legendary slugger and Hall of Fame member - Reggie Jackson. Just like Cy Young - can't have all the victories and triumphs without the defeats!

Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy - Were cut from their high school basketball teams. The rest is history, as we know...

Thomas Edison - Now, I've heard different numbers and versions of this story over the years. The famous inventor supposedly failed 10,000 times before getting the light bulb to work. I've heard it was 1,000 times, too. But it doesn't matter if it was 100 times or even 50. The moral of the story is that he simply didn't give up. He kept learning something new with each failed attempt until he nailed it. And the rest, as we know, is history...

Check out many more inspiring stories like these at this page on the University of Kentucky's Web site.

If you found this article helpful and inspirational, you may also like another piece I wrote, Quantity over quality when it comes to idea generation.