From Failure To Victory; The Cat's Out Of The Bag!

Written by Richard Vegas


Did you ever think that all ofrepparttar great heroes we read about may not have been particularly great men in and of themselves? They may not have been born with any great skills, talents or abilities. But, each of them did have one special quality that we would all do well to cultivate.

A Tough Nut To Crack!

Because of my passion for recording and singing I've hadrepparttar 123447 opportunity to meet some really famous people. And, one thing I have discovered about these people is that they have a "never say quit philosophy." They have a bull dog tenacity that would make a snapping turtle jealous.

A side thought just in case you have never heard;repparttar 123448 saying goes that a snapping turtle, if it bites you, won't let go till it thunders. I don't know if it is true or not and couldn't care less because I don't let snapping turtles bite me. So, back to my point.

Live And Learn!

The stories I have been told by these famous people is sometimes shocking and very inspiring. I won't mention any names but one in particular comes to mind. See if you can relate to this tragedy to triumph.

His passion was for music, as mine is, and duringrepparttar 123449 early years of his struggle, to reachrepparttar 123450 top, he lived in an apartment with no bathroom. After a short while he got kicked out, which he says was not a big loss; then he lived in a convertible automobile with a leaky top.

He literally and he truthfully swears he lived off of cat food in a can for a year. It took him almost twenty years to have his first number one hit. And, that means twenty years of playingrepparttar 123451 honky tonks for peanuts with no success any where in sight.

Never Look Back!

His story really made me think; how much do we really want success? How much blood are we willing to give? What kind of a price are you willing to pay for that elusive dream that captivates and mesmerizes you?

For my friend that I've mentioned, there was no price too great, no sacrifice too large, no limits he placed on himself, except for breakingrepparttar 123452 law, he never crossed that line, but he was willing to pull out all stops to have what he dreamed.

His Goose Is Cooked!

His father even tried to bribe him with money to forgetrepparttar 123453 crazy notion of pursuing music. He decided to stay in his leaky roof convertible and, he said by that time, he had started to like cat food. Yuk! His father said; dumb decision boy!

His father asked him; ok, how long are you going to pursue this? He told his father he had placed a limit onrepparttar 123454 timeframe and said that it was one hundred years. If he didn't succeed after one hundred years he would quit. His father said; dumb decision boy!

Pinch Me To See If I'm Dreaming!

I tell you this story not to insinuate that this isrepparttar 123455 kind of life a person must endure in order to have great success. But, to share with you that here was an ordinary person with no extra special gifts, just a never quitting attitude, that caused him to be living his dream today.

If there is any quality that separatesrepparttar 123456 successful person fromrepparttar 123457 failure, it is persistence; Not talent, not ability, not education. And over and over I have been told by some big name people how hardrepparttar 123458 struggles were to reachrepparttar 123459 top.

You Never Know

Written by Helaine Iris


You Never Know Helaine Iris © 2003

“Why not go out on a limb? That's whererepparttar fruit is.” Will Rogers

I was following my usual morning routine. Wake up, brush my teeth and sleepily stumble downrepparttar 123446 stairs to my office to check my email. I often wake up looking forward torepparttar 123447 day and excited to see what has transpired in my world while I was asleep.

Sitting at my desk scanning through my typically loaded inbox, my eye came across an email from “O, The Oprah Magazine”. Oprah? I thought, “no way.” My first reaction was to assume it was spam, heaven knows I get enough of it. Reading further, I realized it was a good thing I didn’t hitrepparttar 123448 delete key.

Apparently, one of their feature editors came across a recent article of mine. She was requesting if “O” could publish it inrepparttar 123449 December issue ofrepparttar 123450 South Africa edition. I was stunned!

It took me a minute to realizerepparttar 123451 email was for real thenrepparttar 123452 reality began to sink in. I felt an enormous wave of excitement begin to build. Me published in Oprah? Wow.

I immediately picked uprepparttar 123453 phone to call a friend to share my excitement. After sharing a few wahoo’s together she reminded me of something about myself I’d completely forgotten. A mere eighteen months ago I thought I couldn’t write.

I was looking for a way to build my business and my coach suggested writing and publishing articles. I bristled atrepparttar 123454 suggestion. “I am NOT a writer” I retorted,” in fact, I hate to write”. English was definitely NOT my strong subject. I can vividly remember agonizing over school reports. I remember once, years ago, I wrote a business letter and my husband asked me if English was my first language.

Now here I was sitting with an invitation before me to be published in “O” Magazine. I thought about how far I’d come.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use