Failure is Necessary to be Great – C.J. Guy

Conventional wisdom has taught us that failure and rejection are things to be avoided at all cost when striving for success.  But there is another way to look at conventional wisdom and striving for success.  I have learned that the most successful among us have failed and been rejected over and over again but they still rose to the top.  They were able to rise to the top for two very important reasons, reasons that had nothing to do with their resources, their heritage, or their money.  They were able to succeed because they had an abundance of grit and drive.  Their abundance of grit and drive separates them from everyone else… it compels them to follow their heart…to challenge things….they feel no other alternative.  To change things they understand you MUST go big and risk failure…because the alternative is to play it safe and live with the status quo.  Something they find untenable.

When most people are rejected they give up, I live for that chip on my shoulder, rejection motivates me to go harder. – C.J. Guy

I love when people doubt me, it just makes me try harder.  I was first rejected when i was in elementary school and my dad too me to a cub scout meeting.  I was so excited when to go to the meeting and remembered being teamed up with a classmate and his father for a project.  I had no concept of poor or rich when I was younger until my dad and i were teamed up with my classmate.  During the initial meeting my classmate’s father had an air of arrogance and smugness when he talked to my father.  the way he talked to my father was the first, and certainly not the last time, I witnessed the way people with money and no class treat people.  I will never forget that moment, it was the first time I ever felt like we were different, besides our obvious skin color.  This pattern would continue until I graduated High School years later.

I learned at an early age to use rejection to my benefit.  I learned to wear a chip on my shoulder but instead of being self-destructive I went the opposite direction.  I was determined to prove people wrong.  They told me I would never amount to anything.  While they were judging me based on where I come from, they never accounted for my grit and determination.  I graduated High School, went to college and grad school, served my country as a military officer, went to war, traveled around the world, and even climbed the Great Wall of China.

I learned that many of the people I went to school with were not as successful as they were groomed to be…they failed to launch…meanwhile the poor kid from the projects is just getting started.  Thank you universe for all the arrogant people of this world…my success will be dedicated to you.

Rejection is the best cure against comfort for an entrepreneur…rejection reminds you that you have not won yet! -C.J. Guy

Despite my current success in my corporate job, every time I think about staying in the comfort of the familiar, something happens on the job that highlights why I want to leave.  Thank you again universe for the course correction and reminder!  When you get to that point in your life where you decide to take that leap…every rejection from that point on is confirmation of your destiny.

I live for the process, the thrill of building my own company from the ground up, I’m shooting for the stars and dreaming big.  Failure and rejection are my strengths because I know the bigger the failure and rejection, the bigger the success.  I’m just getting started…this journey is going to be great…epic in fact.  Time to go win, time to go do epic shit, time to disrupt the status quo!