Be aware that not fitting nicely into school and societal molds may brand you as a “failure.” You may have been the “C” student or maybe you lost 4 jobs in a row. However, it’s interesting that often those labeled as such go on to accomplish 
unusual success. It seems that frequently if a person does not have the normal opportunities available, they end up finding creative methods for extraordinary success.
Look at these “failures:”
— Albert Einstein was four years old before he could speak.
— Issac Newton did poorly in grade school.
— Beethoven’s music teacher once said of him, “as a composer he is hopeless.”
— When Thomas Edison was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
— F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his employer would not let him wait on customers because he “didn’t have enough sense.”
— Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
— A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “no good ideas.”
— Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.
— Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school in his sophomore year. He was persuaded to come back and placed in a learning disabled class. He lasted a month and dropped out of school forever.
Most of these people met someone who saw greatness in them and “expected” it from them. Can you see the greatness in yourself, or can you recognize it in someone around you this week?
Dan, I laugh about the stress I put on myself in school thinking that straight A’s led to life success. Truth is, the only semester that I flirted with straight A’s, I fell one short with a “B” in “Facilities Management”. When that happened, I had to chuckle knowing that straight A’s were just not in my future. The good news is that my future has not been defined AT ALL by a lack of straight A’s. Kind of like the “perfect attendance” award 🙂
Dan, My parents both worked in a small rural school (K-12th grade 500 kids), one as principal and one as a 1st grade teacher. Because my parents were full of life and a lot of fun to be around, they were asked to chaperone a number of school trips. My Dad had a little method he used that worked pretty well for him to gain cooperation with teens. He would pull the “ringleader” or kid who always got in trouble aside ahead of time, and ask him to help with watching the other kids and keeping the rest of the teens in line. This worked wonderfully, perhaps because of the surprise factor, but Dad said these very kids who were usually the problem, were quite effective in getting the other kids to cooperate. So in effect, he took the kid that was known as the class screw up and helped him see himself as a leader,… and it worked. Our expectations and faith in others sure do shape what someone thinks they can accomplish and how they see themselves. Leadership can be funneled in a positive or negative way. And we can choose to encourage others to use their skills for good.
Awesome story, Marcy! Your Dad was a wise man! And thanks for sharing about Walt Disney. I look forward to watching that.
Also, if anyone hasn’t seen the movie, “Walt Before Mickey”, it will definitely inspire you to follow your dreams. He has an incredible story.
Sometimes you are bound to fail
When you’re traveling on life’s trail
When you’re having those days
Adjust in your ways
Toward success you’ll be setting your sail
After I wrote the comment below, I went to my Facebook page and composed this, which is my daily poem aka my Random Act of Poetry:
Random Act of Poetry™, 11/17/2016
You’ve fallen flat on your face
Thinking you have no more grace
You won’t be a bust
If you shake off the dust
And advance as you’re taking your place
© Cliff Feightner 2016
We have an “Able Learner” program in my school district for kids who show some type of “advanced capacity”. Many times, they are the ones who end up walking around with their pants unzipped or having no clue how to even look people in the eye and say, “Thank you”. Yep…..that’s advanced in our world.