In Game of Thrones, Davos Seaworth talks to Jon Snow after he was murdered and came back to life. Jon says he tried to do what he thought was right and he was murdered for it. He doesn’t understand why he was brought back to life.
Davos tells him that it doesn’t matter why he came back. He expresses to Jon that he has to keep fighting and try to clean up as much of the shit as he can. To this Jon declares that he doesn’t know how to do that and because he thought he did, and he failed.
Davos says, “Good. Now go fail again.”
The only failure in life is refusing to try. It’s falling down and refusing to get back up. Things are only impossible when you refuse to try.
For perspective, how would our world be different if the people below refused to fail?
- Thomas Edison – He was told by his teachers that he was ‘too stupid to learn anything’. He went on to hold more than 1,000 patents, including the phonograph and practical electric lamp.
- Steven Spielberg – He was rejected twice by University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He went on to win five Academy Awards.
- Albert Einstein – He didn’t speak until age four and couldn’t read until age seven. He was considered to be mentally handicapped. He not only changed the way we perceive physics; he won a Nobel Prize.
- Stephen King – His first book, Carrie, was rejected by publishers 30 times. Frustrated, he threw the manuscript into the trash. His wife retrieved it, asking him to try one more time. He did and it was his first book deal.
- Sylvester Stallone – He was rejected by talent scouts over 1,500 times. When he was writing Rocky, he was so broke he had to sell his dog to keep the electricity on.
- Oprah – She was told she was unfit for television and fired from her first job.
- Katy Perry – Her first album sold a mere 200 copies before the record label went out of business. After that she was dropped by two record labels. Ten years later she released I Kissed a Girl, and her career took off.
- Michael Jordan – He was cut from his high school basketball team for lack of talent.
- Howard Schultz – When developing Starbucks, he was turned down by banks 242 times.
- Walt Disney – His idea for a theme park was trashed 302 times.
