This, Is the very first speech I wrote.
I have recently read a book called Do Hard Things, in it, it explains an inspiring story about a girl named Clara. It reads; “Clara was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, on Christmas Day 1821. She was the baby of the family, with ten years separating her and the next youngest. Clara was so terrified of strangers that she was hardly able to speak to them. But then something happened that would change her life forever. When she was eleven years old, her older brother David fell from the roof of a barn and was seriously injured. Young Clara was frantic and begged to help care for him, and once in the sickroom, she surprised everyone by demonstrating all the qualities of an experienced nurse. Little by little, the doctor allowed her to take over all of his care, with his complete recovery lasting two years. A year later, at the age of fourteen, Clara became the nurse for her father’s hired man, who had come down with the small pox, and then she went on to more patients as the epidemic spread through the Massachusetts village where she lived. Still shy and timid, Clara’s willingness to serve drove her to overcome her fears.
One of the leaders in the LDS church, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, once said; “No one likes to fail… but we mortals do not become champions without making mistakes.”
It has been shown by the National Institute of Mental Health that 74% of Americans are afraid of public speaking. This comes as a one-second shock to you, because after that second you realize that maybe you are afraid of it. Or your friend is afraid of it. Or your sister is afraid of it. It is the most common phobia in the US. But, lets just think to ourselves for a minute, and say “why? Why are 74% of americans afraid of public speaking?” … Well, we can all guess the answer to this. We don’t want to be embarrassed, or, socially rejected, right? But to tie all the reasons into one, lets be honest and say; we are afraid of failing.
No one likes to fail. It’s completely understandable. Who likes to feel embarrassment, failure, and rejection? We avoid feeling these at all costs.
But, has anyone ever told you that failure is bad? We must understand that in this world we must do what is good for us; not what we desire to do. Failure is good for us.
In fact; Failure enables us to learn ten times more than success ever would. Success is not reachable without failure. When you fail, it might put you down in the dumps a bit, but we learn so much from it! You might feel like everyone is laughing at your failed attempt, you might feel like you are being shunned, and even if you are, what a great time to prove everyone wrong! You could either quit your speech and debate class, because you don’t like embarrassment, or you could grow up to be one of the best public speakers in the world, who knows?
Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he created the light bulb… Just think about that, 10,000. Edison did not say on the first try: “Oh man. I thought it would work. This was a waste of time. I am never going to show my face in public again.” Though the average American might have said this, Edison obviously did not. He was not discouraged by the 1st or the 10,000th failure.
We do not understand this concept, yet the heroes from the past have mastered it.
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper company for lack of ideas. He also went bankrupt seven times before he was able to build Disneyland.
Rodin (the sculptor of the thinker statue) was always being told by his father; “I have an idiot for a son” Rodin also failed three times to get into the school of art.
When Jon Huntsman was young, he lived in a cardboard box. He is now famous for his container company, and he is now also a billionaire.
In 1954, after one night of performance by Elvis Presley, Jimmy Denny, told Elvis, "You ain't goin' nowhere… son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." Elvis Presley then went on to become the most popular singers in America.
And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was Dr. Seuss’ first children's book, it was rejected by twenty-seven publishers. The twenty-eighth publisher, sold six million copies of the book.
These are people that have mastered the fear of failing. We must understand what they understand.
“The road to success is paved with failure.” This concept is repeated in history, in books, and in everyday life. We must learn from them, that’s the reason they are there. We must learn from people like the sculptor Rodin, Dr. Seuss, and Walt Disney. You don’t have to be an amazing sculptor, or publish a book, but if you can mimic their embracement of failure, it will enable you to do something just as incredible as that.
”If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.”
-Zig Ziglar
A great poet once wrote:
“Sure, sometimes you will face struggle
And yes, sometimes you'll even fail
However, it's those that stumble and continue on
That will conquer and prevail
Still, once you've reached the top
You're bound to fall and retreat
Yet, the key to obtaining success
is to get back on your feet
So give it an extra effort
Don't hesitate or refrain
Because without some type of loss
There will never be any gain”
You might go away from this speech saying; “Why should I conquer the fear of failure? Its hard and awkward, and sometimes I just want to live life as it comes, you know, go with the flow."
That is not what I want you to think.
Because if we don’t do things because we are afraid of failing, we will never ever grow. If we are let the fear of failure be in control we will lose opportunities to gain success. If we don’t do things because we are afraid, we will never live up to the potential that God has put us on this earth to live up to. If Clara did not care for her father’s hired man she might’ve never talked to a stranger in her life, and she most certainly wouldn’t have developed the talent that God had given her. If Edison didn’t conquer the fear of failure, we probably wouldn’t have light bulbs today, and Edison would live his life being laughed at for believing he could make light out of a piece of glass and horse hair. If you don’t go say hi to someone new, you will never be able to say hi to the girl in the corner. And if you say hi to that girl in the corner, she might grow up to invent a new form of wifi that actually works..... who knows? If we let the fear of failure be in control, we will never do something as a first. We will just do what we have done all of our lives. The result? If we do the same things we have always been doing, we will be the same person we have always been. Not growing or getting better at all. If we do not conquer the fear of failure, we will go back to heaven being practically the same person that left. And if you never conquer the fear of failure you might live a comfortable life, but not a meaningful one.
Failure is part of life and must become our friend. I am sure we have all gotten to know it somewhat. But we must embrace it. Invite it in past our welcome rugs. Maybe feed it some cake. Invite it to sit on the couch. Have a friendly conversation with it. Go out to get some Little Caesars with it. We know it will be hard. Failure wasn’t meant to be easy.
I am 100% sure that Clara, did not regret nursing that guy who had smallpox.
Because…. Clara went on to be the founder of the American Red Cross...Clara Barton. Her willingness to serve led her to care for her brother. Then the sick in her town. To the people in the Civil War. Then to thousands all over America. And finally millions all over the world. Clara conquered her fears and then some. It is up to us if we will be as brave as Clara was. We have to decide if we will do something as little as giving up on our speech and debate class. Or if we will go talk to someone we don’t know. If we will quit soccer because the team is four years ahead of us. If we decide to conquer our fear in something as simple as that, it can determine whether something as big as publishing a book, producing a movie, or even saving millions of lives, is possible. We can and will conquer the fear of failure, no matter what stands in our way. We are all at constant war with ourselves, and it is up to us to decide if fear is going to win, or if we are.
“So give it an extra effort, Don't hesitate or refrain, Because without some type of loss,
There will never be any gain.”
