“To be successful, you’ve got to be willing to fail.”
–Frank Tyger
We all want to be successful, but most of us are unwilling to take the risks necessary for success. Hard work, perseverance and risk taking are all important ingredients in becoming successful. If any of these ingredients is missing, the chances of success are greatly diminished, and the ingredient most often missing is the willingness to risk failure.
In 1902, a young man with five hundred dollars in cash, and a lot of determination, opened a dry goods store in a small mining town in Wyoming. The young man and his wife lived in an attic above the store and they used dry goods boxes for furniture. The wife wrapped their baby in a blanket and let it sleep under a counter while she stood by it and helped her husband wait on customers. The man’s name was J.C. Penney, founder of the giant chain of stores that we are all familiar with today.
History is full of similar success stories in all walks of life. Dwight D. Eisenhower grew up as a poor farm boy in Abilene, Kan. The only way he could get a college education was by getting appointed to one of the military academies. His first choice was the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, but he failed in his effort to get in. He didn’t give up, though. Eisenhower applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and was accepted. He went on to become a great military leader and President of the United States.
The story of Jimmy Carter’s background is similar to that of Eisenhower. He grew up on a peanut farm near the tiny town of Plains, Ga. When he was not going to school, he worked on the farm and sold peanuts as a sideline, saving most of the money he earned. He became the first Carter to finish high school, and he wanted a college education, but there was little money for that. Carter managed to get into the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and he graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. In 1966, Carter ran for governor of Georgia, but he lost in the primary election. However, instead of allowing that failure to deter him, Carter ran for governor again in 1970, and this time he won. Six years later, he was elected President of the United States.
In each of those cases, if the individuals had not been willing to risk failure, and even persevere after experiencing failure, they would have remained obscure individuals, and the world would never have known of their talents.
Think about it.
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Copyright 2026
Allen W. Smith
