I have had to try again many times. Many times over!

Thomas Edison’s 10,000 attempts to create a light bulb, Sir James Dyson’s 5,126 attempts to invent a bagless vacuum cleaner; both ended in success.

Harry Potter’s J.K Rowling had failed just about everything she had ever attempted to do in life. She was diagnosed with clinical depression and was suicidal. In 1995, five years after the initial idea had come to her, she managed to finish the manuscript for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She located an agent, but after one year of trying to get it published, all 12 major publishing houses had rejected her book.

Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, a wild-eyed 65-year old decided to give it another go when he set out with nothing more than a $105 social security check in his pocket and a recipe for his now-famous fried chicken after many attempts at success in something.

Funny enough, all the success stories I know, all of them inspire me because of their attempt to start again.

“Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.” — Charlie Chaplin

My mentor, Paul Thatcher puts it this way, “…mistakes and failure keep us humble, keep us hungry, keep us working to improve. Failure can lead to learning and learning leads to success.”

I am very well convinced that success stories are incomplete without scars.