Writing Your Success Story: When Things Don't Work Out, Do You Break?

Every great success story is usually preceded by a breakdown. Things don’t always seem to work out at some point. And the lengths of these points vary: it takes a year for some, months for others and years for most.

The only reason we usually end up talking about them though is because of the simple fact that the writers of these success stories never stopped writing when things seemed hardest.

The reason we like to see them, to hear them, to watch them and to want to be like them is simply because despite the periods of hardship that these people faced, they were always able to come back and complete their stories on their terms. That is why they are inspiring.

You have probably heard the story of Edison so many times that you don’t really appreciate what it means to try and fail 10,000 times. It is failure after failure and trial after trial. Talking about it is easy. Writing about it is also easy. But failing those many times and still having the courage to try again, that isn’t.

Failure is nasty. It’s bitter. It’s disgusting. But success isn’t. And the only way to get success is to get up and try again and again until you finally have a taste of the success that you want from life.

The Steve Jobs' success story has been termed one that can only happen in America. But we wouldn’t really be celebrating the guy as one of the greatest personalities of this century if he had stopped at building the first Apple machine. People wouldn’t be repeating his story so many times if it weren’t for the fact that he kept on investing in Pixar over and over again despite the fact that the company wasn’t making any money.

If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have had the financial muscle to make a total comeback to Apple and create the bounce-back of the century. And none of that would really have happened if he had decided to simply enjoy his wealth after being kicked out of Apple.

Michael Jordan is arguably one of the greatest sportsmen ever. Years after his retirement, he still makes over $80 million a year. But what really makes his story so wonderful to read and what makes him command so much respect is the fact that he had it in him to bounce back in style.

After being kicked out from high school team, he did the work and was able to be picked the next year. After his father died, he retired; but he found himself strong enough to go back to the game he loved. That first year back he didn’t really win the title, and many people were jeering saying that he was done and that his retirement had undone him. But he bounced back. He didn’t break. He bounced back and finished up his story. Time and time again when he felt it was incomplete, he went back and completed it. That is why many people consider him a legend.

Colonel Sanders had really done much in his life. He had tried a lot and failed. His wife left him because she thought he was a loser who could hold no job. He tried many ventures which succeeded for a time and then went under. He did this until he reached his retirement age. He received his retirement check from the US government as something to keep him comfortable as he waited to die.

To all, there was really nothing more to be done. He was old, he had lived well and had enjoyed some relative successes. Only he knew that there was still something more in him. There was more to his life story other than the “normal” life he had lived. Things had seemed to come to a standstill, but that is when he picked himself up and completed his success story by establishing one of the most successful franchising enterprises in American history. A billion dollar corporation resulted just out of an old man’s determination to write the last lines of his story on his own terms.

Things won’t always work out. Good things will not always happen. Things will not always happen perfectly according to the little plans in your head. This is a fact. It is just the way life is. However, the question is: will you break? Will you let the little extended dry patches deny you the opportunity to write your life’s story on your terms? When things don’t work out, will you crumble?

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