Category Inspiration

Why failure sucks more than anything in this part of the world

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“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm,” Winston Churchill.

The Mantra about failing many times before eventually attaining success is a real fact. Quite a lot of us have witnessed success stories that started from nothing. However, in recent times, Mantra has been debunked and proved irrelevant in this part of the world.

Many dreams have been shattered with ‘what ifs?’ – The fear of the unknown. The fear of not having the stability and emotional strength to handle failure. But who would blame anyone? I couldn’t, and I can’t because we’re all part of the masses who are afraid of failure. We’ve read so many success stories, but so have we read so many failure stories. But would we instead remain stagnant than fail?

Let’s look at these scenarios: 

I have a dream worth a million dollars, but the plan is just sitting at a corner in my heart with cobwebs at its side.  Why don’t I execute this million-dollar dream and be ridiculously rich? ‘fear.’

 We all have a fear of failure running through our veins. The fear isn’t just limited to our thinking; it extends to thinking about those we care about; it extends to thinking about those we can’t afford to let down. That’s why so many people will stick to their #20,000 naira monthly salary rather than take a bold step in starting something more rewarding and financially fulfilling.

The part of the world we live in doesn’t create a cushioned space when we fall. That’s why many entrepreneurs aren’t bringing something new to the market; that’s why we are so comfortable living below standards.

Why? Are people tired of hearing things that don’t work in this country? But what works in a country that has provided minimal comfort for the development of her people? Maybe success. But isn’t success pushing it too far? For some, it isn’t. Can we accept that we are programmed differently, and so are our stories and life.

I think there are more than enough reasons I could go on proving why failure sucks in this part of our world. So, I’d instead stop there and focus on the bright side of life.

The bright side

” My last two business ventures have failed. Three years and probably $50,000 later, I am left with nothing but more excitement, experience, and clarity than ever before.” Kevin Swan.

That piece of the quote is probably what we need to scrap out of our weird thoughts of not wanting to fail. The quote’s author doesn’t say anything about winning a lottery in the end, but he tells us how excited he is about the future. And would you care to know that this man is disabled? He is disabled, as in paralyzed; he couldn’t move any part of his body but his eyes and toes. Not even his mouth; he can’t feed. Yet, he’s hopeful. It’s not easy, but where’s our hope?

If this happens in Nigeria, I bet the person will be crumbled to nothing feeling like a complete failure. But the point is, would it solve the issue? Or would remaining stagnant lead to success?

I guess it’s about time we changed the orientation if we genuinely want to progress. 

The other side: We can’t rule out failure in the bid to succeed. However, we can succeed if we strive hard enough.

Three tips to avoid failure breakdown

Start small

Many of us don’t have the wholesome capital to start a huge business. My advice? Start small. Don’t borrow to avoid a heart attack. You can’t build an empire in a day, not even a year, go slow and be consistent. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

It is often advisable to start a very sure business – more preferably, a hand skill you’re confident about. Don’t follow a trend.

Have other side hustles.

The way we should be programmed in this country is to have other side hustles. I have a friend who has up to 4 legit side hustles, and he doesn’t get tired. I have another one who quit his job to focus on his startup business.

Both ideas aren’t bad, but the country’s situation will make a man who depends on one means of income regretful.

The situation of the country warrants having other things we can fall back on when one fails.

Change your orientation.

I’ve heard quite a lot of ‘That’s why I don’t listen to Motivational speakers.’ You don’t have to listen to Motivational speakers’, but what exactly keeps you motivated to be better? Do you know that your wife advising you to try your hands at other businesses is encouraging you? Wouldn’t she be called a motivational speaker in broad terms?

Here’s another dimension to changing your orientation – accept that failure is part of your progress story. While we may not wish to encounter failure, we should channel our thinking towards life and its ups and downs. Once we accept that things will not always go the way we want them, we’ll begin to see opportunities where we ordinarily wouldn’t have thought.

Final thoughts

The thoughts of failure plague so many minds, hitherto hindering their success. While we cannot afford to fail, we shouldn’t be comfortable at being stagnant – we should probably fall to raise another day.

Some youths say ‘the motivational speaker forgot to add “fail early.” Let’s redefine failure – You fail to succeed another day. Fail early so that you can do what your future self will be proud of.’

NB: not everyone will fail. Some are lucky enough to succeed at the first trial. Be bold to take a step!

HOW A DISABLED MAN BUILT AN EMPIRE

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“There are no shortcuts. There are no easy buttons. There are no magic techniques.

You just have to do the work, damn it.

The question is…

Are you going to do it? Or are you going to sit there whining about how hard it all is and let the world pass you by?

The choice is yours.”

Jon Morrow

. . .

The quote above is from one of Jon Morrow’s articles. I guess you wouldn’t be surprised if I told you Jon Morrow is a millionaire. But would you perhaps be astonished if I told you he is disabled? You might even be more surprised if I told you that the only part of his body he can move is his eyes and lips. The other parts of his body are paralyzed.


I’ll share the story of Jon Morrow in the paragraphs below- how he is an inspiration and some essential lessons to learn from his success story.


He is disabled, yet, he’s making it and living the life. How is that even possible? I know, I know this question keeps coming to your mind about this ‘ royal awesomeness’.


Jon Morrow is a blogger. With the help of speech recognition technology, he has written many awe-spiring articles read by millions of people, and which had, in turn, made him a millionaire. He’s an inspiration to so many people.

. . .

His story
Morrow is a great storyteller. And from his inspirational articles, I’ve been able to cop this few pieces. Sit back and enjoy!


Aged one, Jon hadn’t begun to crawl, he made attempts to crawl, he tried, but, he could only try. His worried mother, Pat Morrow, decided to take her son to the hospital against everyone’s opinion that she’s probably worrying herself over nothing, and that he’ll eventually walk. I guess a mother’s instinct is something that cannot be overemphasized.


At the hospital, Mrs Morrow received the most heartbreaking news ever, her son, Jon, suffers from a neuromuscular disorder, called spinal muscular atrophy – this means as Jon grows older, he’ll grow weaker instead of stronger. At some point in his life, he’ll be unable to move. And, he’ll not be able to breathe on his own. Also, someday, he will be infected, this infection will make its way to his respiratory system, and he will have very severe pneumonia. The doctor’s words in a sum are that Jon won’t be able to survive all these past the age of 2.


Mrs Morrow, who was more perturbed and angered by the doctor’s withdrawal to her son’s fate to die, was resilient and willing to fight the battle for her son. And miraculously, 16years after, Jon suffered from 16 severe cases of pneumonia, but he didn’t die. I’m quite sure aside from the medical tours, she invested a large amount of her time praying he survives it. That Jon, survives this, is a pointer that he’s destined to live and do great things.


Mrs Morrow didn’t stop at the battle for her son to live. She fought that he be also educated when the school’s principal didn’t want disabled children around. And, when Jon could no longer lift a thing as a pen, the selfless mother made arrangements for honours students at local colleges to help with his assignments after school hours.


Over the years, Jon suffered from several broken bones, and he recovered. He spent most of his life in the hospital but remained determined to make something beautiful out of his life.


In 2006, Jon’s minivan was hit by a car that was speeding so much. The speeding vehicle sped into Jon’s minivan, breaking the entire front end of his van. Jon was pulled out with fire in his shirt and with broken legs in about fourteen places.

The battle only he could face
Throughout his growing up years, Jon realized his family had fought so many battles for/with him. He couldn’t let them down. He began to fight many battles on his own. He fought the fight to be listened to, and not merely being shoved aside because he’s disabled. He fought the battle against the stereotypical Stare and judgement given to the disabled beforehand; he fought the fight against wallowing in self-pity, destruction and depression.


The battle after the accident was, therefore, a necessary battle for him to fight and win. Jon was in the hospital for the next month, enduring the pains that came with the broken bones.

Afterward, he focused his time on rehab as doctors had predicted he’d need a year to recover. Surprisingly, Jon only used half the year. During this period, he thought about everything concerning his life. He didn’t like where he was heading, so he quit. No, he didn’t stop his life; he quit his job and sold his belongings.

After Jon quit his job, he ventured into blogging. He dedicated all his time to it – no time for T.V., no time for friends, no time to check the time, literally.


Within two months, Jon’s blog was getting about 2,000 visitors a day, and it was nominated for the best blog for business/money of the year. Few months after the recognition, Brian Clark asked him to become an associate editor of CopyBlogger – one of the most popular blogs in the world. The job offer was a lifetime opportunity for Jon, he sold his blog On Moneymaking for five figures and joined the team.


Jon Morrow is now the C.E.O. of smart bloggers and other blogs where he keeps getting his bulks. He’s such an inspiration, I know. The story above is just a miniature of what Jon story is, to get to know more about him and get inspired, check references below.

Important life-changing lessons we can learn from Morrow’s story


Don’t ever give up
Even when all odds are against you, you have to hold your head up high and say, ‘I won’t give up’ -this is first an admonishment to me before you. I know it’s easier said than done, but hey, that’s one of the reasons I shared Jon’s story. I want to be inspired, and I want you to keep being inspired.
Everyone in this life has their fair share of life’s adversity; however, we can either let the adversity win or we keep pushing till we win. Be like Jon. Be an inspiration to others.


Your dreams are valid
I know a lot of people aim so high, that they stop to look at themselves and say ‘who will Even invest you? ‘who do you know?’ ‘others can do what you’re doing better’. Just stop there. I know this because I’m among ‘a lot of people’.
Regardless of whatever it is that we’re doing, we should always have it in mind that our dreams are valid and we are what we think. Who would have ever thought that someone who couldn’t move his body from his neck down could become a millionaire through blogging? Jon is a living testimony of valid dreams. He should be an inspiration to you, if you ever think of giving up.


You are not a lost cause
If Mrs Morrow had given up on Jon, and had wallowed in self-pity and accepted her fate, I guess we might probably not know nor hear of anyone as Jon Morrow. What if Jon had conceded defeat and accepted that a disabled couldn’t make it? We’ll never hear of him.


Your case isn’t the worst-case scenario ever. No matter how bad you might think you have it, there’s someone whose case is worst than yours. Please get up, and work on yourself. Your case isn’t a lost one. Read stories filled with inspirations and be inspired!


You’re not a failure
I guess I left out that part where Jon failed at his first 3blogs; well, there, you have it. That doesn’t mean you will fail, though. But if perhaps you fail at your first attempt or on several attempts, that doesn’t label you a failure. We only become perfect after doing something for a long time. Perfection here is relative because perfection belongs to God exclusively.
And most importantly, we should draw inspiration from our failures and work smarter for the next attempt.


There will always be pains
I do not think I have heard any success stories without problems nor endurance. The success stories I have listened to are bore out of patience, persistence, and hard work, coupled with pains. I know these, because my father is a living example, he’s successful because of many things, he is successful today because he endured – he is successful because he’s patient, he worked hard from being a messenger to being a boss. Jon is a more prominent living example.


Jon had it so bad, he spent most of his years in the hospital, yet he channelled his pains in the right direction. He made lemonade out of lemons. He talked about his problems in his blog, and he inspires millions of people through channelling his pain in the right direction. You can be Jon.


Don’t dwell on negativity
Most times, we find it easier to dwell on the negative part than focus on the positive side. We sometimes forget that we are what we think. There were so many times Jon wasn’t accepted amongst the cool kids in the school; people belittle him because of his disability, he couldn’t even lift any part of his body. But did he let depression overweigh him? No. Did he settle for suicide? No. He instead decided on the positive side. He aims to make it blogging, to become one of the best in the game, and he made it.


Jon Morrow is now an inspiration to many start-up bloggers and a go-to in the blogging field. You too can make it in whatever field you venture into, as long as you focus on the positivity.


Learn always to thank God
Do you know Jon thinks his life is fantastic despite his disabilities? He finds strength and inspiration in his pains and disability. From his behaviour is a hidden grateful nature. He’s thankful for life and doesn’t even think suicide is the best option.


Life throws a little adversity at us, and we’re already blaming God. Nobody has it easy, and there are some whose cases are worse than yours – always focus on this, and your life will be alot easier. Next time, when life hits you hard, thank God because someone out there has it worse than you. Then, pray to God to help you. Hard work with God pays a lot!


Final Thoughts
I read somewhere that great stories are timeless. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m drawn to Jon’s stories; sometimes, I need to seek inspiration. I know in years to come, Jon Morrow’s story will remain timeless, and people who come to read of his story will still see him as an inspiration. I hope someday; I’ll be another Jon Morrow, even better, who will inspire the world.