After a 27th publisher rejected his first manuscript, Dr. Seuss walked dejectedly along the sidewalks of New York, planning to burn the book in his apartment incinerator. On Madison Avenue, however, he bumped into Dartmouth friend Mike McClintock, who that very morning had started a job as an editor in the Vanguard Press Children’s section. Within hours, the men signed a contract, and in 1937 Vanguard Press published “And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street,” which launched the extraordinary literary career of Dr. Seuss. “If I had been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I’d be in the dry-cleaning business today,” he said.
Dr. Myles Munroe famously said, “The poorest person in the world is the person without a dream. The most frustrated person in the world is the person with a dream that never becomes reality. Seth Fiegerman, editor of Openinglines.org graduated from New York university in 2008. Shortly after graduation he landed his first job as a research editor at Playboy magazine. Shortly after being employed with Playboy the management announced that most of the staff would be laid off.
As unemployment loomed, Fiegerman felt adrift. He began to explore the Playboy archives, discovering a trove of interviews with celebrities ranging from Marlon Brando to Malcolm X. Many of these successful people shared tales of their less promising early days and Fiegerman quickly became obsessed with these original stories. Fiegerman found solace reading about the obstacles that famous figures had to overcome. He began devouring biographies and soliciting interviews with writers and musicians he admired, using the blog to document the fits and starts that began the careers of the famous and the infamous.
Success, he learned, was less a matter of innate talent and more the product of perseverance, a willingness to stumble and stand up again and again. “You kind of assume that great geniuses (are) like Mozart,” Fiegerman says. But few successful people were child prodigies, and prodigies don’t necessarily find success. “Most people don’t stick to it.”
Perseverance, sometimes called grit, is the great equaliser. You don’t have to be the wealthiest, have the most followers on Instagram, or be the smartest person in the room: if you persevere, you can reach your goals. Just to be clear, making money is not a reason it is a result.
When we need to recover from a setback, think our way through the challenge, and then try again, we develop grit. Get up, go out and meet the world head on. Raise your standards and become the expert in whatever field you are interested in.
Do you have to make up with somebody? Do you have to apologise to someone for something you have done? Do you have to make up for the damage caused by years of neglect and maybe betrayal? We have all messed up at some time or the other, some of us more than others. You can fix anything. Anything can be fixed, but you have to fix it.
Success is nothing more than a few disciplines practised every day. We cannot keep waiting for a fool proof opportunity to come by before we force ourselves to get serious. We must identify our current opportunity and embrace it. Sometimes we must run the risk of going too far in order to discover how far we can really go.
Eliot Kelly is recognised as a Serial Entrepreneur, and has been featured on CNN, BBC Three’s Be Your Own Boss and an extensive lists of magazines and articles. His four books have been translated in over 7 languages and are sold in 29 countries, recently being shortlisted for Best Self-Help and Best Advice Books 2019 by The Author Academy. He is regarded as a top Sales, Business and Leadership Management Coach who creates opportunities for his success partner’s through financial literacy and life skills training. He is also a Professional Speaker and continues to inspire present and future entrepreneurs around the world.
