The School of Greatness - 165 Never Ever Give Up

Episode Date: April 17, 2015

"Never stop believing that you are worthy of your biggest dreams." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/165.

This is 5-Minute Friday, episode number 165. Never, ever give up. Albert Einstein said, Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts. I know you're tired. You've 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 your computer all day

and the last thing you want to do is go back to the gym today. Who has time for dreams? Who has the 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 offstage. You wanted to start your own business, but your family told you to go to school,

get a steady paycheck, and be grateful for what you have. 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's 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 her first Harry Potter book. Twelve 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 the school at another location only to drop out to become a director before finishing.

35 years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earned his BA. Oprah was fired and told she was unfit for tv now these famous failures faced more than their share of humiliation and rejection they were tired just like you many of them had mouths to feed and bills to pay as well their dreams were just as impossible to them as yours are to you now. And Michael Jordan said, you must expect great things from yourself before you can do them. Limits like fears are 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 lift you up. 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 achieve your dreams as long as you never, ever give up. Thank you.