Storms of Perfection - Softcover

After researching the lives of some of these people, a curious pattern began to develop. It wasn't that they were all well educated. Most, in fact, were not. Some didn't receive support from their families. Age, race, and gender didn't seem to matter. Neither did the presence or absence of money connect to any degree the men and women I studied. There was only one constant; one common thread which invariably wove through the lives of all these people

Problems. They had all experienced incredible problems! These problems occured at various stages in their lives and manifested themselves in an endless number of ways. Rejection, illness, poverty, self-doubt, and imprisonment were but a few on the long list I compiled.

But surely, I thought, problems can't be the only factor involved in attaining greatness. Problems in and of themselves couldn't lead directly to success, could they? The answer is obviously no, of course not. These people all eventually found the winner's circle because they refused to quit looking! They didn't shy away from obstacles the way most of us do. The found a way around, tunneled through, or simply kept chipping away at the obstacle until it was no longer there!

Some of the stories I found were testaments to those who ignore the words, "No, it can't be done." A case in point is that of Dr. Laurence J. Peter, author of The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong. In 1964, after submitting his book manuscript to thirty-one different publishers, it was finally accepted by William Morrow & Co. Congratulations are still in order for Dr. Peter. The book sold more than 200,000 copies in its first year and remained on the New Yourk Times best-seller list through 1970. Today, more than twenty-five years later, the book has been translated into thirty-eight languages and is still selling briskly.

Other instances I uncovered weren't quite so thrilling. The lessons they taught, however, are just as real. Another writer named John Kennedy Toole wrote a novel about life in a southern city called A Confederacy of Dunces. It was so unanimously rejected by publishers that, in 1969, Mr. Toole committed suicide. His mother refused to give up on the book. She sent it out again. The book was returned to her every time . . . rejected. At last it was accepted by the Louisiana State University Press. In 1980, it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

These examples should encourage us -- and at the same time be a cause for alarm! What might we accomplish if we simply refuse to quit? And what are we missing every time we do?!

Some time ago, I began contacting people from all walks of life who were enormously successful in their chosen field. I specifically asked, "What was the worst rejection or biggest problem that you had to overcome before you became successful?" Even now, I am not sure what I was expecting, but as the letters came in, I became more and more convinced that these men and women had become great due to their attitudes toward the difficulties in their lives. Here then, in their own words, are their stories. . .

Andy Andrews

Gulf Shores, Alabama