– Michael Jordan
A list of Abraham Lincoln’s Failures:
- Lost job, 1832
- Defeated for legislature, 1832
- Failed in business, 1833
- Elected to legislature, 1834
- Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
- Had nervous breakdown, 1836
- Defeated for Speaker, 1838
- Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
- Elected to Congress, 1846
- Lost renomination, 1848
- Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
- Defeated for Senate, 1854
- Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
- Again defeated for Senate, 1858
- Elected President, 1860
USA Swim Team’s Unlikely Victory Over France in the 400M Relay – Beijing 2008 Olympics
Of course – sometimes you don’t fail. With persistence, preparation and supreme effort when opportunity presents itself, we can prevail in even the toughest situations. This is all my friends have been talking about today, and I hope you enjoy it.
An interesting note that ties this clip in with the theme of the rest of this post: Jason Lezak, the man who swam at an amazing pace and set a world record to bring the US team back from what seemed like certain defeat, has anchored the US team twice (in 2000 and 2004) at the Olympics, where they have lost. He said this about his final lap:
After making the turn, Lezak said he momentarily lost the courage of his convictions. Bernard had a 0.6 of a second lead and Lezak was not sure he could reel him in. “I’m not going to lie,” he said. “The thought really crossed my mind for a split-second, ‘There’s no way.’ ”
Then he reminded himself that he was representing his country and this was the Olympics and he was not getting any younger so he had to make the most of this chance. “In five seconds I was thinking all these things,” Lezak said. “And I got a super charge.”