From Noel Button, The Path of Extraordinary Success and Self-Belief:
“The only thing that can be said with certainty about life is that every time we set out to pursue a goal or a dream, there will be people who will tell us that it is impossible. In order to succeed in any direction, we must first be prepared for the ‘scarlet poppy cutters’ – the breakers of hope who come to pluck the most fully blossomed poppies of our dreams and inspiration. Every person who has succeeded was once persuaded and predicted never to succeed.
Carl Lewis, one of the greatest track-and-field athletes in the world, was told at the beginning of his career that he would never become a great sportsman. After writing the script for Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was told that he did not have what it takes to become a successful and famous actor. The same opinion was expressed about Sean Connery, who was told that he would never be accepted as a good actor because of his accent. Madonna, too, was told that she would never succeed as a singer. The famous founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, was told by businessmen and university professors that his ideas were highly unrealistic. The list could go on endlessly.
Some people who predominantly use the left side of their brain are completely unable to assess correctly what will happen in the future. An experienced financial director of a well-known American bank once advised a group of investors not to invest money in Henry Ford’s venture. He told them that motor vehicles were only a temporary phenomenon, while horses and carriages would remain permanent. In the year 1800, it was reported that the director of the U.S. Patent Office closed the office, declaring that everything possible had already been discovered and invented. He reached this conclusion because the number of patent applications had dropped almost to zero over the previous two years. We may laugh at this, but these were simply people who had been educated to pay attention to and believe only in facts, figures, and statistics. They had not been taught to develop their imagination in childhood.
Our personal goals and dreams have almost nothing to do with the short-sighted and limited people who stand outside the scope of our idea and vision of success. Our goals should be influenced only by the perseverance of our positive attitude and by our belief in ourselves. What enables perseverance and dedication to bring success is the ability to rise above limitation, so that we can continually support and strengthen our confidence and our potential to achieve what our heart desires.”
Noel Button, The Path of Extraordinary Success and Self-Belief
Note: The quotations are translated from Bulgarian and are not presented as verbatim citations.
