Success

​I heard of someone failing yesterday and it really inspired me.  That sounds totally left field.  But I look at companies founded by people and other people doing amazing things and they are inspiring, and I feed on them.  I need them.  But there is something else I relate to well.  Failure.
I look at people and a cursory look indicates they have made it.  Often, they are successful beyond the wildest imagination.  What that does not reveal without a further look is what it took to get there.
There are a heap of failures for the most successful person.  Mostly they did not waltz to success without falling flat on their faces.  Mostly they are successful as a result of what they did after falling flat on their face.  I reckon Winston Churchill was right on the mark when he said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”  If waltzing they would have perhaps made a mental note. “Keep feet away from each other.”
I loved the movie “The King’s Speech.”   The king was a chronic stutterer.  He was virtually a laughingstock.  But he did not settle for failure.  He did what he could to succeed.   He hired a speech therapist.  He worked on his problem.  When the time came for him to give a speech to the nation (that Britain had declared war on Germany no less) he was ready.
As far as I am concerned the greater the adversity overcome, the greater the success.  Someone may be famous, but it seems to me a no-name who has a major win is perhaps more successful that someone we measure success by.
The movie “Hidden Figures” highlighted a black woman working for NASA and the adversity she overcame.  Amongst other things she worked out the flight trajectories for Project Mercury. 
She was determined.  It is no wonder Vince Lombardi said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
I find that heaps for me.  I need to want something, to go for it.  If I only think I want it then when adversity strikes (which it always does) then I will walk away.  But something Mark Twain said inspires me in tasks I have a mind to do. “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”  I do believe that ignorance should only ever be short term.  To me there is no shame in not knowing but there is in pretending to know.  I had a boss that accepted mistakes but not the same one again and again. 
If I substitute inadequacy for ignorance, then I am highly qualified.  For me, what I do is a gift from the one my confidence is based on.  I develop what I have and build a framework.  Any success I have enjoyed could so easily have ended in abject failure.  But success to me is measured by more than life spans or influence and affluence.
I love what someone said.  “If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.”  Those who know me know that for me “people matter.”  Riches and wealth are great, and I will always want them, but if I can make a positive difference in someone’s life, I feel I will have succeeded.