In 1840, American educator Thomas H. Palmer published a book titled Teacher’s Manual, which included in its text a short poem. While few of us today would recognize Palmer’s name, we’re probably all familiar with this poem:
“Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try again.
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.”
That could have been the theme song of Charles F. Kettering. In fact, Kettering once said: “It doesn’t matter if you try and try and try again, and fail. It does matter if you try and fail, and fail to try again.”
Born in 1876, he earned an engineering degree and joined National Cash Register Company, where he developed the first electrically operated cash register. Then he turned his attention to the fledgling automotive industry, co-founding Dayton Engineering Laboratories Corporation, which later became Delco, and was ultimately acquired by General Motors.
It was Kettering who invented the electric self-starter for automobiles. In 1910, he joined GM, remaining there until 1947. His genius, however, was by no means limited to automobiles. He invented such breakthrough technologies in health care as a treatment for venereal disease, an incubator for premature babies, and artificial fever therapy.
Other inventions included: the electrically operated gate and a lightweight diesel engine for the railroads; the first synthetic aviation fuel; shock absorbers, safety glass, the automatic transmission for automobiles; and Freon for refrigerators and air conditioners. In his lifetime, Charles Kettering held more than 300 patents.
Kettering was a man of action, who never allowed the fear of failure to hold him back or slow him down. He called failures “finger posts on the road to achievement,” adding that “one fails forward to success.” His philosophy was to “keep on going,” and not to worry about failing, “because every failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success.” – adapted from The Best of Success by Mac Anderson and Bob Kelly
I know there will be some doubters about today’s message among my readers. Heck, sometimes I doubt. All of us encounter instances in our life journey when we are beaten down by setbacks or defeat. In such situations, it becomes easy to find ourselves questioning, “What’s the point of trying if I can’t win?”
In reality, we win in lots of different ways, mostly through lots of little wins. The point of our lives is not to be good all the time. It’s to be as good as you can. None of us are perfect. None of us does it right all the time. That’s not what the genuineness of life is all about. So, do it again. Play it again. Sing it again. Read it again. Write it again. Sketch it again. Rehearse it again. Run it again. Try it again. Because again is practice, and practice is the path to improvement, and improvement will invariably lead us to success. Take to heart the words of the great author and intellectual, Aldus Huxley:
“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacqué