by Victor Usifo

Created on: September 01, 2011

The world is made up of successful and unsuccessful people but there is a thin line between success and failure. You may not believe this assertion, but the fact of life is that the most successful people are also the people that have failed the most. 

People that attempted for instance, to set up a business and failed usually put the blame on themselves. They internalise the experience and lose faith in themselves due to battered egos. Their self worth takes a beating so much, they begin to see themselves as failures. Once they come to this level, they give up hope on life, mourn their disappointments and wear dejected looks on their faces.

Their battered egos make them lose sight of their true capabilities. Also poor diagnosis of their situation leads to wrong declarations that they are not good enough. If only they could pick themselves up to attempt that thing they failed, their story would change for the better.  

Some give up too soon when their success is just a breath away. This failure mindset must change if they want to be counted amongst the world's super achievers.

History is replete with men that tried in various fields of human endeavour and failed. However, there are also some that had failed several times and finally recorded remarkable achievements. Thomas Edison was one such individual who proved that failure was not final but a stepping stone to success.

He failed nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine (9,999) times in the experiment to create the incandescent electric bulb. History has it that when he was asked about the many times he had failed, His response was “…I have not failed. I only found nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine (9,999) ways that the light bulb will not work…”

Considering that the response, which came from a man that had over one thousand (1,000) United States patents for various inventions in diverse fields, then you would understand why failure is not final in the life of any person.

You must agree with me that Edison’s determination culminating in various life changing inventions made life easy for every one living in the 21st century. His patents include the dictating machine, incandescent electric bulb, phonograph, telegraph, storage battery, telephone and many other inventions.

Thomas Edison was a man that refused to quit despite all odds. A memorable quotation from him on determination explains how his mind worked. He was quoted as saying that “genius

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