Never Ever Give Up

Want to build a life and business around doing what you love? Me too. Let’s connect.

“Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.” –Albert Einstein

I know you are tired.

You have been repeating in your head over and over the things that you hate. “I hate this coffee, I hate this broken sink, I hate when my daughter whines, I hate my boss, I hate my life.”

You just want to go back to bed but there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. And the wolves are at your door.

You feel like crying but there’s not even time to cry.

Your back hurts from sitting in front of a computer all day and the last thing you want to do is go to the gym today.

Who has time for dreams?  Who has energy to do another thing?

It is easier to treat yourself, to sink into the couch and numb yourself with the TV. To let the food and the beer and junk fill the void where your passion once fueled you.

You had a dream.

But it was hard chasing and it took too much time.

And everyone told you that you were crazy.  Only those types of people do that, they said.

You wanted to be a stand up comedian but someone told you that your jokes weren’t funny.

You wanted to be a singer but the crowd booed you off stage.

You wanted to start your own business but your family told you to go to school, get a steady paycheck, and be grateful.

You wanted to marry the love of your life, but the color of your skin wasn’t acceptable to his family.

You wanted nothing more than to have your parents love the real you, but you knew for certain that if you came out they would never speak to you again.

There is only one tiny little difference between you and the successful people who are making their dreams happen.

They didn’t give up.

Author J.K. Rowling was a divorced single mother living on welfare, suffering from clinical depression, and contemplating suicide when she wrote the manuscript for the first Harry Potter book. 12 publishing houses rejected the book.

After being cut from his high school basketball team, Michael Jordan went home, locked himself in his room and cried.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job for “lacking imagination” and “having no original ideas.”

When he was five, actor James Earl Jones developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak. He remained functionally mute for eight years, until he entered high school.

The Beatles were rejected by Decca Recording Studios, who said they didn’t like their sound and that they would never have a future in show business.

Marilyn Monroe was fired by 20th Century Fox after one year because her producer told her she wasn’t pretty or talented enough to be an actress.

Thomas Edison made thousands of unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.

Steven Spielberg was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA.

Oprah was fired and told she was “unfit for TV.”

These famous failures faced more than their share of humiliation and rejection.

They were tired just like you.

Many of them also had mouths to feed and bills to pay.

Their dreams were just as impossible to them as yours are to you now.

Michael Jordan said, “You must expect great things from yourself before you can do them. Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion …”

No one likes rejection. No one wants to have their dreams discredited.

So if it happens, lock yourself in your room and cry if you need to.

Take a break, regroup, call a friend whose love is unconditional and who will uplift you.

Just be sure to get back up, again and again, and never stop believing that you are worthy of your biggest dreams.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

And you will get there, as long as you

Never give up.

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or TuneIn

The School of Greatness Podcast

“Never stop believing that you are worthy of your biggest dreams.”

Continue Seeking Greatness:

• Music Credit: No More by DJ Mosh

Did you enjoy the podcast?

Who is your biggest inspiration of never giving up?