Was there ever a time when you wanted to do something and people told you couldn’t do it, just because it had never been done before? If you tried and failed, did you try again?
Photograph by Stu Rosner
In her commencement speech at Harvard in 2011, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf talked about how failure is as important as success.
Addressing the 2011 graduates, the first female president of Liberia and all of Africa, shared her experience over the decades in Liberian politics, as she encouraged them to pursue their seemingly impossible dreams.
In every generation, there are people that have stood out from the crowd to achieve the unachievable. Let me know if there was anyone who came out to say the path was smooth and easy.
Many failed several times, lost hope and found it again; broke down, got depressed, or were filled with self-doubt and fear. There are those who were rejected, punished, abused, exiled, or defamed.
Yet, they succeeded in the end and their names are now in the history books as leaders and champions of their time and they will be remembered for generations to come.
If you are yet to start your business; learn a skill, get a college degree; buy a house; raise a family; build your community, support global change, or be the best version of yourself, trust the process and never give up on your dreams, no matter how improbable they may seem.
REFERENCE
Harvard Magazine: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Commencement Speech
