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Have you had a challenging day
or week? Feel a little tired or discouraged with a current
situation? Ready to throw in the towel and quit something?
Don’t worry. It’s very
normal to go through times of feeling that something in
life stinks and all there is to see and feel is the
current mess.
Here is something neat to
ponder during those times, though. When doing battle with
discouraged feelings, take a look at this report and
reflect on this man's record of failure. It is a testament
to how humans can learn and grow and win despite the
losses and defeats.
Failed in
business-------------------------------------1831
Defeated for
legislature------------------------------1832
Failed in business
again----------------------------1833
Elected to
legislature---------------------------------1834
Sweetheart
died----------------------------------------1835
Nervous
breakdown------------------------------------1836
Defeated for
speaker----------------------------------1838
Defeated for land
officer------------------------------1843
Defeated for
congress--------------------------------1843
Elected to
congress-----------------------------------1846
Defeated for
re-election-------------------------------1848
Defeated for
senate------------------------------------1855
Defeated for vice
president--------------------------1856
Defeated for
senate------------------------------------1858
Elected
President--------------------------------------1860
Who was he?
He was a simple,
uneducated, country boy who refused to allow his
uncongenial circumstances stop him. He refused to be a
victim. He refused to accept failure. He refused to listen
to people who told him he was crazy. He refused to stay
down when he felt like nothing was going his way.
Simply put, he picked
himself up no matter what and kept on going after his
dream. He educated himself and did whatever it took to
keep moving in the direction of his passions.
Who was he? Abraham
Lincoln.
If you reflect back on your
life, you can find patterns of the times you grew the
most. Many of those times were probably a result of some
kind of previous 'failure,' maybe even a series of them.
Remember: children don't
fail when they are learning to walk. They fall down over
and over again. It is the falling that teaches them and
strengthens them.
Each failure is a learning
experience. And the faster people pick themselves up,
reflect on the past occurrence and go again, the faster
they can achieve their goals and dreams.
So with this in mind,
choose the one thing that may not be going exactly as you
wish right now and do one thing to move you closer to
achieving the result you want. And remember, life is about
learning and growing.
You have permission to
publish this article electronically or in print, free of
charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy
copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: John@TheStreetKid.com
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