DETERMINATION: THE KEY TO SUCCESS

We live in a success-oriented world and the society praises the people who are 'successes' in life – be it in science, technology, religion, politics, sociology, education or any other field for that matter.  But it is a fact that there are so many fall-outs. The reasons for fall-outs are lack of determination and willingness to chase their dreams. When we look at the people who have succeeded in life in their own ways, we will find that they were people of determination and who were willing to chase their dreams.  In spite of their failures in many attempts they persisted on their attempts and eventually became ‘successes’.  The people behind the so called success stories were ‘failures’ till their success; but in spite of their ‘failure’, they persisted and pressed on.  When we see their success, we tend to forget the pain and toil behind it.

The secret of success is beautifully stated by St. Paul in his letter to Philippians. He says, “ Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  ‘Religion’ was his business and he shares the key for his success. You take any area which you feel like you are ‘called’ and follow the principle of St. Paul: “forget the past” – whether it was a failure or success,  “strain toward what is ahead” – whether you feel it is impossible to achieve and “press on toward the goal” – this is the only way of success.

  

It is read that Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times (the number of attempts is differed – from 1,000 to 10,000 – so let us read it as so many times) before creating the electric bulb.  His response to his repeated failures is important: “I have not failed. I have found those 10,000 ways does not work.” Albert Einstein didn't speak until he was four years old. Many people thought he was just a flop. He never spoke for the first three years of his life; and throughout elementary school, many of his teachers thought he was lazy and wouldn't make anything of himself. He always received good marks, but his head was in the clouds, conjuring up abstract questions people couldn't understand. But he kept thinking and, the result is part of history: he eventually developed the theory of relativity, which many of us still can't comprehend. Bill Gates' first business failed. His first company, Traf-O-Data (a device which could read traffic tapes and process the data), failed miserably. When Gates and his partner, Paul Allen, tried to sell it, the product wouldn't even work. Gates and Allen didn't let that stop them from going on trying. Here is how Allen explained how the failure helped them: “Even though Traf-O-Data wasn't a roaring success, it was seminal in preparing us to make Microsoft’s first product a couple of years later”   

These success stories must encourage us to succeed in work, business and life. The lessons we should learn are:

1.      Rejection should never stop you.

2.    Failure is not a problem at all.

3.    People who reject you know nothing.

4.    ‘Belief in yourself’ is the key to success in life.