Thursday, November 25, 2010

encouragement from a former addict

No, the former addict isn't me. I'm a huge fan of Craig Ferguson. He's the host of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, on CBS. If you're not familiar with him, I'll give you a quick background. He's originally from Glasgow, Scotland but now lives in California, USA and has become an American citizen. He dropped out of high school at age 16 and became addicted to drugs and alcohol, all the while hopping from punk band to punk band, repeatedly falling short of success. He went through rehab, stayed clean and got his big break on the Drew Carey Show.

He battled his demons and seems to have evolved into one of the wisest and most down-to-earth personalities in show-biz today.

I've been reading his autobiography 'American On Purpose,' which is a great read with brilliant story telling. I had only made it as far as the preface when I realized how good his book was going to be. In the preface he wrote, "we prepare for glory by failing until we don't."

My stomach did a flip when I read it and I knew that this statement would be added to the mental Rolodex of phrases I keep to inspire myself when I'm feeling daunted.

Through his failed marriages, his addictions, his numerous attempts to break into show business, he continued to fail until one day he didn't. That's the secret!

The people who become truly and uniquely successful aren't the people who learn how to succeed, they're the people who learn how to fail and start over. They are the sort of people who fall and get back up, dust themselves off, and prepare to fall again. They fail until they don't.

People say things like this all the time. I've heard things like this before and shrugged it off and you may shrug this off today. Realistically, no one really 'gets it' until they're ready. You need to reach that place in life where you're prepared to make a mess of things and try again, without fear of looking foolish, because you finally know that there is no other option for you but to try until you succeed.

It applies to anything worth achieving, whether it's a battle with weight, or addiction, or the drive to succeed academically, athletically, in your career, or in love. If you persevere you have an infinitely better chance of success than you have if you give up.

Long story short, it's OK to fail as long as you keep trying, as long as you keep failing until you don't. Have a great day everybody!

20 comments:

  1. Cool post, Rae. I like Craig and heard his story on a radio interview a while ago. Remarkable. Nice interpretation of it for all of us.

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  2. "no one really 'gets it' until they're ready". So well said.

    Love this post.

    And the Ramones ---- ahhhhhhhh the best!!

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  3. Great post!! I will try to remember this next time I am being hard on myself!

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  4. Thanks for recommending Craig's book. I will look into reading it.

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  5. Great Post!! I can be so hard on myself for failing. There are times I look at others and think things are easier for THEM! I have to remember failure is not the worse thing. This post helped me. Thanks!

    Keep focused!!!

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  6. I'm trying to think of the right words in response to this awesome post. It is perfect for me to read. Thank you.
    J

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  7. Read the last paragraph again. You are ready to race.

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  8. That is a great post Rae....carry on!!!!!

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  9. I never knew that about him! I am going to buy this book for our friend for Christmas- he will love it! This was a GREAT post!!!!
    Have a pretty day!
    Kristin

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  10. Thanks! I needed to read this post tonight!

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  11. Hey Raegun! You've won something on my blog -- please check it out and send me your contact info. Congrats, and thanks for following my journey!!
    runningdivamom at charter dot net
    www.runningdivamom.com

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  12. Needed this post today! thanks!

    Jennifer
    http://wecanlosethepounds.blogspot.com/

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  13. Keep at it, keep tryting, changing approach and striving for what you want; thats what his words meen to me. Go gett'em!

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  14. Love it :) I couldn't agree more. When I was younger I used to beat myself up ALL THE TIME for failing (mostly weight loss), but now I shrug it off. Tomorrow is a new day and all I can do is try again. Thats the great thing about our lives, we have the choice to better ourselves all the time. :)

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  15. Isn't that how we learn, through our failures?
    Loved the post, thanks!! :)

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  16. Wow so true! And SO INSPIRING... Thank-you!

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  17. Hi again...
    Can you please email me your mailing address so I can get it down for the blog gift exchange party? I will only send it to your blog buddy, but no presents without an address :). Thanks in advance!!
    xo
    Jill (oh, just reply to this message).

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