Dare To Fail · Dare To Fail The most famous book on failure ever published. International...

Billi LimD

are To Fail

International Best-SellerThe most famous book on failure ever published.

ISBN 978-967-0166-01-8

A REPORT OF THE SPEECH MADE BY

SENIOR MINISTER OF SINGAPORE

MR LEE KUAN YEW

GOING GLOBAL-WHO DARES WIN

COMP LI ME NTARY

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UDED INSIDE

Billi challenges readers to break free of their fears and misunderstanding about failures and setbacks so that they can truly enjoy life with all its richness be it “good” or “bad”. He has been dubbed the world’s 1st Failure Mentor – one who gets you up when you are down. He is today a very much sought after inspirational speaker who makes his audiences laugh hard while he delivers messages that touch their hearts and break their mind-sets. His current speaking circuit covers Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Europe, USA, China and India. He has spoken to more than a 100 organizations including multi-

national companies. He is the only speaker in the region if not the world who conducts in 5 different languages. He is also a very popular Talk show guest having appeared on many radio and television shows. Millions have heard him talked.

For the millions of people who have tried and failed, this book speaks for you.“If you are going to fail at something, then do it fast!” -Google’s Model

“What people see of my success is only one percent but what they don’t see is the 99 percent which are my failures.” - Soichiro Honda.

“Some parents worry that their children might fail. I’m concerned because mine are in their mid-30s and haven’t failed yet.” - Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today.

“I can imagine a group of executives discussing a candidate for a top job and saying, “What worries me about this guy is that he's never failed”.”- Harvard School Professor, John Kotter.

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A book whose time has come...“When a true samurai goes into battle, he is prepared for death but more often than not it is the opponent who meets death.”

DARETOFAIL™ brings to us for the first time an insight into the nature and purpose of failure; a subject seldom accorded its rightful place in history. At the last count, the Library of Congress USA has more than 1,200 books on success but only 16 about losing or failure.

Interestingly, the history of discoveries which have benefitted mankind is often filled with people who used erroneous assumptions or failed ideas as stepping stones to new ventures.

This book is a tribute to they who dare to fail!

“...there’s a tendency to walk away from failure and leave it buried. An enormous amount of institutional learning gets lost because failures don’t get analyzed. So the real learning is what’s learned from failure.”

Andrew GroveFormer Chairman and Cofounder of Intel Corp.

“Most people make a common mistake.... by thinking of failure as the enemy of success.... You’ve got to put failure to work for you....go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that’s where you’ll find success....on the far side of failure.”

IBM’s Thomas Watson

At first sight, DARE TO FAIL heralds a new

line in management thinking...New Straits Times

Printed in MalaysiaCopyright © 1996, 2013 Billi Lim

DARETOFAIL™ Most people tend to take success as if it is a long jump. In actual fact, success is the result of numerous baby steps. These baby steps may either be right or wrong but they finally lead to your goal.

This book will lead you to the final realization that failure is actually part of success.

“We became not competitive by not being tolerant of mistakes....You can stumble only if you’re moving.”

Coca Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta.

“While one person hesitates because be feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.”

Henry Clink

“The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails... but rather the one who moves on in spite of failure.”

Charles Swindoll

“Human beings were given a right foot and a left foot, not a right foot and a wrong foot.”

R. Buckminster Fuller

Billi LimT

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The answer to turning your dreams into reality and failures into fortune.

• Discover the lessons and value of failure• Make failure work for you• Learning to fail your way to success• Gaining your self-respect inspite of your failures• Letting go of your failure “baggage”• Is there life after failure?

w w w . d a r e t o f a i l . c o m

The other side ofthe success story

9 789670 166018

DareTo FailTM

Billi LimD

are To Fail


ISBN 978-967-0166-01-8



MR LEE KUAN YEW


COMP LI ME NTARY

INCL

UDED INSIDE







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of th

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Published by:

















Henry Clink


Charles Swindoll



Billi LimT

M





9 789670 166018

DareTo FailTM

Billi LimD

are To Fail


ISBN 978-967-0166-03-2



MR LEE KUAN YEW


COMP LI ME NTARY

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UDED INSIDE







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Published by:

















Henry Clink


Charles Swindoll



Billi LimT

M





DareTo FailTM

9 789670 166032

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Gold

This book is dedicated to the millions ofpeople who have tried and failed in whateverthey have attempted; to those who have stillnot achieved the things that they want; tothose who have climbed to great heights buthave fallen; to the multitudes who havesuffered greatly in their journey through life.

Let them not be disheartened, for by thetime they finish this book, they will knowthat it is they who have been mostrichly blessed, that they are thechosen ones.

“Judge not those who try and fail

Judge those who fail to try.”

In a different light, this book is alsodedicated to all the fortunate few who havesucceeded in amassing wealth and arecontent with their present status.

“The rung of a ladder was never meantto rest upon but to hold a man's footlong enough to enable him to put the

other somewhat higher.”

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CHAPTER 5

FAILING

There are many books in the market todaythat talk about success. How to be successful,how to achieve, etc. ... To my knowledge sofar, little has been written on the subject offailure. I guess the reason why it has not beenwidely touched on is that our society has beenprogrammed to shun failure. We look down onpeople who have failed. We look at “dropouts” differently. Failing is considered taboo.We measure people by their achievements. Weput a high value on “success” but little or novalue on “failure”.

Is there little or no value in failing? If that isso, why is it that in all the lives of great menthat I have had the good fortune to read about- the tougher the failures they suffered, thegreater they finally became?

I would go so far as to say that great failuresactually made great men! There are very fewif any, great men who have not gone throughhardship and failures in their lives.

In fact it produces so many great men, thatI can safely say that the value of failing isgreater than that of success. But alas! Manypeople do not see it that way, we only thinkof winning and winning all the time.

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This attitude can be summed up by a statementmade by the great American coach, VincentLombardi:-

“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all-the-time thing”.

I mean no offence to Mr. Lombardi becauseI know what he is trying to say but sometimespeople take it too literally. I do believe itshould read:-

“Winning and losing are not sometime things

Winning and losing are all-the-time things”

Winning has been over glorified and weforget that it is through learning from losingthat we become greater winners!

Glorifying winning or success alone is verydangerous because many who have tried andfailed feel so bad about failing that theysuccumb to failure and never rise again.

We have read of many successful mencommitting suicide after a major failure. Youngpeople who dared to try but failed have oftenslipped into despair and oblivion. It is not thatthese people were unable to handle the failurebut the stigma that failure carried was tooheavy and when society pulled the “planks”from underneath them, they had no otherchoice but to “sink”!

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We have also heard of the saying:-

“Give me 10 bad losers and I’llGive you back 10 good winners”

To me I think you will get back 10 badwinners, definitely not 10 good winners!

Sometime ago I had the good or bad fortuneof watching a game of competitive tennis. Ihad never seen a worse bad loser. The worldseems to have a lot of bad losers like thisperson and they seem to be able to get awaywith all that vulgarity they hurled about. Itseems that when you curse and swear whenyou lose then you have the potential to be agood winner. I think the best they can becomeis a bad winner not a good winner, anddefinitely not a great winner. I believe thegreat winner is yet to come - one who hasunderstood what failing really is! As the sayinggoes :-

“Give me 10 losers who understandwhat losing means and I’ll give you 10great winners!”

Maybe it’s the misconception of what“success” is all about.

Many people tend to associate achievementwith success and non-achievement withfailure.

If you have obtained a lump of gold, youare a success. If not, you are a failure.

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OR every rich man'sson who becomes auseful, constructiveworker on behalf ofhumanity, there areninety-nine othersrendering useful servicewho come up throughPOVERTY and misery.This seems more thana coincidence!

Indeed, thepossession of wealthhas proved anobstacle greater thanthe humble beginningone is born with.

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THOSE who have notmade the difficult journeyand have found wealth theeasy way will not know howto create wealth when theylose it.In other words, thosewho have not failed willnot know true wealth.

Men who came up thehard way usually try tomake things as easy aspossible for their children,thus denying them thediscipline of struggle andself establishment thatworked so well in their owncase.

Charles Kettering

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CHAPTER 11

FEAR OF BEING TOO OLD TO SUCCEED

Most people nowadays seem to be in ahurry to succeed. It is hard to blame theindividual. Governments all over the world aredoing the same thing, competing with oneanother to see who gets to the developedstatus first. They now even have a competitiveIndex for countries! Each day we are drownedby T.V. and radio programmes, books,newspapers etc. exhorting us to excel, tocompete, etc..

To be competitive is good but with whomare we competing? In the field of competition,there are always winners and losers. For everywinner, there is always a number of losers.How do you take it when you lose? What ifyour friends are getting ahead of you? What ifyour business is losing ground? What if yourincome is not comparable with yourcounterparts? What if they own houses and youdo not? And you are getting old and youngerpeople are passing you by. Are you too old tosucceed? Is it too late for you to succeed?

It all boils down to who you are competingagainst. Many people get caught and their livesbecome miserable. We shouldn't be competingwith others, we should be co-operating withothers and competing with ourselves. Theothers are for us to use as a yard-stick andnothing more than that.

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If we compete with ourselves and we lose.Who Wins? Think about it.

(Pause)

Many people have been trained to equatesuccess with victory, to equate doing well withbeating someone. It leads people to assumethat only by competing against others can leadone to achievement and that only by puttingone's own-interest first can one becomesuccessful. Latest research by Dr RobertHelmreich, a psychologist at the University ofTexas shows that co-operation with othersis much more productive than competitionagainst others ..... To make one person'ssuccess dependent on another person's failure(win/lose syndrome) is naturally disruptive andcounter productive.

Consider the following,

“No one is a failure who can truly say, Ihave done my best.”

“There is but one failure, and that is not tobe true to the best that is in us.”

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CHAPTER 12

FEAR OF NO RESULT

Most of us today are always concernedabout results, results and more results! We haveMBO (Management By Objectives) courses. Wehear people say that the most important thingis the bottom line. It seems nothing elsematters. So long as we get what we want, wedon’t care how many lives we wreck along theway. We cheat on our friends or businesspartners and manipulate them, just to get whatwe want. The end justifies the means.

It seems people don’t seem to understandthe real meaning of “we reap what we sow...”What we reap is the “result” and what we soware “causes” that we have planted. Many areconfused by how it all works. And when theydon’t get the results they desire within a certaintime frame, they begin to manipulate or usecrooked means to force a desired result.During this period they could have donenumerous unimaginable things without regardto whether they were ethical or not. And theresults that they achieve are usuallyunsustainable, and even if they are, they areoften haunted by “no peace of mind” and thelike.

The following statements should give anidea of what I am referring to.

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“...For instance, there is an understanding -morally and ethically that private hospitalsshould not turn away emergency cases. Butemergency patients are being regularly andsystematically turned away because they ortheir next of kin do not look financiallycapable.”

Dr. Mahathir addressing the 1994 ChinaSummit meeting.

“It appears to some businessmen, nevermind if they are trained as doctors or lawyers,that professional ethics can and should besacrificed for profit. Saving the bottom line ismore important than saving lives.”

New Straits Times, 15th May 1994.

Let’s analyse the following:-

“... for whatsoever a man soweth that shallhe also reap.”

The Bible.Galatians 6 v. 7.

“We sow our thoughts and we reap ouractions.

We sow our actions and we reap our habits.We sow our habits and we reap our

character.We sow our character and we reap our

destiny.” Anonymous.

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What is especially peculiar about the twostatements? They look ordinary don't they? Butit took me many years to realise the essenceof what they meant. Have you got it yet? No?Maybe you have. Well, notice the fact that theword “sow” always comes before “reap”? Inother words, if we do not sow anything wehave nothing to reap. It means WE MUST SOWFIRST. There is no such thing as reaping first.As I have mentioned earlier, “sowing” is the“cause”. So the “cause” is more important thanthe “result” because there is nothing to reapwithout the “cause”. Hence the result isdependent on the cause, but the “cause” is notdependent on the “result”.

Many may not notice it. It is understandablebecause lots of us are too busy to take aproper morning breakfast or to observe thefacial expressions of our spouses or childrenthan to observe how causes ripen to results.But if you were to relax and trace backthrough your past... past... and past... you maybe able to see the truth of what I have stated.

In school, we studied Newton’s Third Law :For every action there is an equal and oppositereaction. Nobody denies it. We take it as gospeltruth but we don’t really apply it in our lives,do we?

Every action is our “cause” and the equaland opposite reaction is the corresponding“result”.

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“The secret of success is non-attachment toresults; doing your best at the moment, andletting the result take care of itself.”

Do not be fearful of results. Take care of thecauses that you plant each day, each week,each month and each year. The result will takecare of itself. But alas, human beings, as a wiseman once said, are scared of the “results” butnot of the “causes”. It is indeed very true thatmost human beings are “upside down.” Insteadof taking care of the causes we are worryingabout the results. We are scared of falling sickbut we don’t bother to take care of our health.We are concerned only with getting rich butwe don’t take care of our customers. We likeour children to be obedient and filial but wedon’t care how we treat our parents.

“There is a cause for every effect, a reasonfor everything that happens. If the cause isright and sound and proper, the desired effectis inevitable. Too many waste their energieswatching for effects instead of expending theseenergy upon causes.”

Anonymous.

At this point, I would like to share with youthat a result may come about from a numberof different causes which may have beenplanted at different t imes in one’s l ife.Similarly, a “cause” once planted may give rise

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to a “result” that may appear at a different datein the future. Some “causes” ripen faster thanothers and some ripen slower.

BBBBBUT BEWARE, EVERY “CAUSE” WILLRIPEN TO ITS CORRESPONDING “RESULT”

GIVEN THE RIGHT CONDITIONS!

A British family once travelled to Scotlandfor a summer vacation. The father and motherwas looking forward to enjoy the beautifulScottish country side with their young son.One day the son wandered off by himself. Ashe walked through the woods he came acrossan abandoned swimming hole. As what mostboys his age would do, he took off his clothesand jumped in. Before he had time to enjoythe pool of water, he was seized by a viciousattack of cramps. He began calling for helpwhile fighting a losing battle with the crampsto stay afloat.

Luckily, it so happened that a farm boy wasworking in a nearby field. When he heard thefrantic cries for help, he jumped in andbrought the English boy to safety.

The father whose son had been rescued wasso grateful that the next day he went to meetthe youth who saved his son’s life. As the twotalked, the Englishman asked the brave ladwhat he planned to do with his future. Theboy answered, “Oh ! I suppose I’ll be a farmer

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like my father.” The grateful father said, “Isthere something else you would rather do ?”“Oh ! Yes !” answered the Scottish lad. “I’vealways wanted to be a doctor. But we are poorpeople and we could never afford to pay formy education.” “Never mind that,” said theEnglishman. “You shall have your heart’s desireand study medicine. Make your plans, and I’lltake care of the costs.” In years to come, theScottish lad did indeed become a doctor.

Some years later in December 1943, WinstonChurchill became very ill with pneumoniawhile in North Africa. Word was sent to SirAlexander Fleming the discoverer of the newwonder drug, Penicillin to come immediately.Flying in from England, Dr. Flemingadministered his new drug to the ailing PrimeMinister. In doing so, he saved Churchill’s lifefor the second time. For it was the boyWinston Churchill whom Alexander Fleminghad rescued from the swimming hole so manyyears before.

What would have happened ifChurchill’s father had not planted the‘seed’ to pay for Dr. Fleming’s education?

What would have happened if AlexanderFleming had not planted the ‘seed’ ofrescuing Winston Churchill?

Imagine what would have happened tomillions of lives if no one has discovered thedrug, Penicillin.

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“When even one small pebble hits thewater, everything is forever changed, thewater level rises and the ripples of energygo out endlessly onto the shores andbeyond. To every cause there will be aresult.”

Anonymous.

“Nothing happens without a cause. Wemay have forgotten our actions but ouractions do not forget us.”

Bear whatever results that you are nowfacing because they are the “results” of the“causes” which you have already planted. Noamount of cursing will change it. It will onlymake it worse or give you ulcers. Nobodybrings it to you. You somehow have plantedthe causes. It is too late to change it now butyou can begin now to alter the future results.Keep on enduring them. Do not use crookedmeans to alter them. Plant new “causes” and assure as the sun will rise tomorrow, the “results”of your newly planted “causes” will come. Youmay not know when but they will surely come!

“We do not see very far into our past,that is why we blame the present.”

There is a time for everything. Whatever isyours is yours. It will definitely come. Youdon’t have to worry or break your principlesto force it, it will surely come, otherwise it wasnot yours in the first place.

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The problem in our society today is that inour quest for success, many of us have beentrained or programmed to become “go-getters”.Our society is tending towards a situationwhere getting is becoming the aim and the endof life.

We can see many of these successful go-getters today. Most of them look as thoughthey have plenty of money. A lot of them mayoccupy high social positions. But somethingseems to be missing. If you were to study theirfaces carefully, few of them really look happy.More often than not, their laughter seemsartificial, not the spontaneous laughter ofpeople who are really happy. They havebecome too successful in “getting” whichmakes them too self-centred to be truly happy.On the other hand if you were to observe atruly happy and successful person, you willnearly always find that he is gracious,considerate and concerned about the well-being of other people, other than his own.Such people are natural sharers, for they aregivers as well as getters.

At this point I would like to share with youa favourite story of mine:-

A happy old man aged over 80 was onceobserved by a neighbour to be planting a smalldurian tree. (A thorny fruit with a verypungent smell known as the king of fruits -very popular in South East Asia).

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“Do you expect to eat durian from that tree?”the neighbour asked, knowing fully well thatit would take 8 to 10 years for the plant to bearfruit.

The happy old man rested smilingly on hisspade. “No,” he said. “At my age I know Iwon't. All my life I've enjoyed durians butnever from a tree that I have planted myself.I wouldn't have had durians if other menhadn't done what I'm doing now. I'm justtrying to repay the other fellows who planteddurian trees for me.” No wonder he is sohappy.

In line with the above principle, we shouldactually be GO-GIVERS first and go-gettersSECOND in everything that we do. We will notonly get what we want but will actually bereally happy at the end of it all, strictly becausewe need to sow first before we can reap.

“It takes faith to give, because at first all yousee is what you’re sacrificing. It looks like it isgoing to hurt and that you’re losing, but whenyou do give, acting in simple faith,appreciation and thankfulness for all the Lordhas already given you, then He blesses youeven more.”

David Bradt Berg

“To everything there is a season, and a timeto every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1.

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“Prefer a loss to a dishonest gain; one bringspain at the moment, the other for all time.”

Chilton.

I believe by the time you finish this book,you would no longer fear failing. But in yourfearlessness, remember in whatever you do,make sure you do things (plant causes) whichwould not harm others but would be beneficialto all.

“Single out the right seed,Only then should one sowOnto new grounds seenNever let the bad seed be sown.”

It must be emphasized here that thedaringness to fail does not give us the licenceto go around cheating and then absolvingourselves from the responsibility that arises outof the outcomes of our actions. Our character,integrity, credibility, honesty, sincerity andprinciples in being what we can be are ofutmost importance. Many people in theirsearch for material wealth have forgotten aboutthese important qualities, although they areintangible. Look at the early entrepreneurs,they came with empty pockets and were laterable to amass great material wealth. What didthey possess in the first place which they coulduse to exchange for material wealth? Thinkabout it.

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"It's been an endless nightmare letting him(two-years old Paul) out of our sight forseconds can give him enough time to killhimself..... he would probably die laughing- thinking he was having fun!" - The Mother.

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SUFFERINGS.

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Edison was deaf when heinvented the phonograph!

Helen Adams Keller wasdumb, deaf and blind.

Homer was a blind minstrel. Handel's right side wasparalysed when hecomposed his greatest work,The Hallelujah Chorus!

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SUFFERINGS.

199Born into slavery, Booker T.Washington became the mostinfluential black leader andeducator of his time.

Despite being illiterate, thesixth Patriarch, Hui Neng,became one of the greatest Zenmasters of all time.

Billi (left) together with thefamous blind Lawyer andP r o f e s s o r o f L a w ,Thammasa t Un ive r s i t y ,Tha i land ; Achan Vi r iyaNamsiripongpan.

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Sudha ChandranWell known actress anddancer of Bollywood. She lostone of her legs on the set ofthe film “““““Naache Mayuri”(Dancing Pea-hen). Todaythis popular actress is stilldancing on her single leg.

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“I’m lucky that I had an exciting andadventurous life for 42 years. I have thosememories and a realistic prospect of a betterfuture. I don’t have a legitimate cause to feeldown. I’m too busy to feel sorry for myself.”Christopher ReeveOn Memorial Day weekend 1995, Christopner Reeve, the actorknown best as Superman had a tragic accident while competingin a horse meet. His neck was broken and he was paralysedfrom the neck down leaving him to a fate of spending the rest ofhis life in a wheelchair.While he was alive, he has fought for the causes of the disabledand has become a shining example of courage, dignity and grace.Till the day he died, he believes that the day will come when hewill rise from his wheelchair and walk away.

You don’t have to be a supermanto be great.

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“Successful people couldfail but the important thingis that they never give up.”Dexter & Birdie YagerDexter and Birdie Yager grewup in a small mill town inupstate New York. While hewas growing up, Dexter woulddo all kinds of work. He wouldshovel driveways andsidewalks in the winter andmowed lawns in the summer.He even had his ownlemonade stand when he was in his 6th grade. He had also worked ata clothes shop owned by Jewish people. In this way he made money tosupport himself when he was in middle school.He married Birdie when she was only 17. Birdie was working for theGriffis Air Force base and Dexter was working for the brewery. As bothof them were working, they would leave their 4 kids to the baby sitterwhen they were working. Dexter would come home, take the baby sitterhome, take the kids with him and then he would come back and takecare of the kids until Birdie got home at mid-night. This would go onfor years.Finally Dexter and Birdie came across an MLM business which theyjoined on 1st Nov 1964. While he was building the business, he facednumerous challenges and struggles. During that period, he had 4 strokesand 3 brain convulsions. He was paralyzed. At 46, he was alreadyweighing 240 pounds, an obese with a 43 inch waist. His body fat was24% and he lost control of his right hand and was not able to walk.According to the neurologists, he would be in a wheel chair for the restof his life ! When he was finally allowed to go home, he was sodiscouraged that he wanted to grant his wife a divorce so that she wouldnot need to push him around in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. ButBirdie was prepared to stay with him no matter what.At age 55, he decided to do something and took on weight exercise.When he first started doing that he lost 80 pounds by doing and thinkingright. He went from “too fat” range to the “okay” range and to the“good” range and recently he is at the 10.5% which at age 61 puts himamong the 1/2 of the 1% of the well-built men in the world !Today he owns as many as 50 corporations and joint-venture companiesaround the world. He has a MLM distributor organization which isresponsible for more than 70% of Amway Corporation’s businessworldwide. He is also a well known motivational speaker and is one ofthe richest men in America.

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Bad may not be bad, it may be good;good may not be good, it may be bad.

“Every adversity, every failure, every handicap,every physical ailment, every unpleasantcircumstance and experience carries with it theseed of an equivalent benefit, often in some hiddenform.”

An old man once lost a horse. His neighboursall came to console him. But the old man said.“It may turn out to be a good thing.” A fewmonths later, the horse came back by itself andbrought another fast horse with it. The oldman's neighbours this time came tocongratulate him. But he said, “This may turnout to be bad.” One day, the old man's sonwent out riding on the fast horse. The horseran too fast, and his son fell down and brokehis leg, became crippled and handicapped.

So what do you think, is it a bad thing?


SUFFERINGS.

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Pause

Years later, the country was at war with itsneghbours. All abled bodied youths weredrafted to become soldiers. Many of the youthsdied in that war except the old man’s son.

So what do you think, is it a good thing?

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“To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or bebetter...”Abraham LincolnBorn in the backwoods of Kentucky in 1809, Lincoln worked asa rail splitter, flatboatman, storekeeper, postmaster and surveyorbefore becoming a lawyer. Altogether Lincoln's formal educationadded up to about a year.His is a classic case of a man who really dared to fail. Failed inbusiness in 1831. Defeated in legislature in 1832. Again failedin business in 1833. Nervous breakdown in 1836. Defeatedrunning for speaker in 1838. Defeated running for post of electorin 1840. Defeated running for congress in 1843. Elected tocongress in 1846. Defeated running for congress in 1848.Defeated running for senate in 1855. Defeated running for vicepresident in 1856. Defeated running for senate in 1858. Finallyin 1860 he was elected as the 16th and one of the greatestpresidents in American history.

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"It is not that you failed, it's just that you have notfound that ‘something more’!"Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)“That's an amazing invention, but who would ever wantto use one of them?”President Rutherford Hayeswhen he saw the telephone invented by Bell in 1876.

“ Never, never, never give in, in whatever you do.”Winston ChurchillAuthor, orator and statesman, led Britain from the brink of defeatto victory as the wartime prime minister. When young, Winstonnever liked school. He was a poor student who loved playingwith his big collection of toy soldiers.

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“Fear of failure kills the courage tosucceed.”Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan, the king of the IndianCinema was born into a well-to-do family.His father was an acclaimed Hindi poet andmother, a socialite. He graduated from theDelhi University with an Arts degree. Manywould have thought that because of hisbackground, his path towards stardomwould be an easy and smooth one. But thiswas not to be so. His life would instead serveas an insight into the struggle that goes intothe making of a legend. He is destined to bean inspiration as well as a warning to those who naively wish for fameand instant success to fall onto their lap.When he first started after graduation, he was rejected for the job as ajunior executive in a soap and consumer goods firm in Delhi. He thenapplied to be a radio announcer but was turned down by the All IndiaRadio because his voice was “not right”. He then join the crowd ofyoung hopefuls in trams, clutching testimonials and looking for job inCalcutta. He managed to work as a shipping agent only for a shortwhile. But this was a time when India was facing domestic politicalturmoil and student unrest. Employment prospects for educated youngmen were bleak at best. After going through the rounds of all possibleavenues of employment with no result, Amitabh had to even spend onenight sleeping on a bench with nowhere to go.He finally decided to try his luck at Bollywood. He was a nobody. Hewas scoffed at because of his tall, gawky stature and laughed at as a“lamboo” (Tallest Man). After a series of rejections, both in the filmworld and outside of it, Amitabh still refused to give up hope. At last hewas launched in the film “Saat Hindustani” (seven Indians) whichalso went unnoticed. He was still undeterred. He then signed up for thefilm “Bombay to Goa” for only Rs500! But the film opened the door ofthe film industry to him. Finally he was signed up for the film “Zanjeer”(The chain) which broke the box-office and a superstar was born ! Heappeared in over 70 films many of which were resounding successes.He would later marry Jaya Bhaduri, one of the most successful andaccomplished actresses in Hindi cinema.10 years later Amitabh retire from the film world. He then tried hishand in politics. Owing to his enormous popularity, not to mention theclose association with Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, he was elected toparliament with a huge majority from his home city of Allahabad. Hisstint in politics did not last long and he was implicated in some scandalsand he finally gave up his parliamentary seat vowing never to beinvolved in politics again.He later return to Bollywood but a string of failed ventures and the lossincurred by his entertainment company in sponsoring the Miss UniverseContest held in Bangalore in 1996 made him a bankrupt.In 1999, he came up with his own version of “Who wants To Be Amillionaire” – TV Show called “Kaun Banega Carorpati” makinghim a multi-millionaire once again.

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(A) Unless they can mend themselves mentally, these people willnot be able to bounce back again.

(B) Even though he physically sees his fortune being burnt away,MENTALLY he still sees his fortune intact and can be builtagain.

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Failure cycle(What we fear most will come true and continue to come trueunless we break the cycle.)

INNERCONSCIOUSMIND (SUB-CONSCIOUS

MIND)

CONSCIOUSMIND

FEAR(Thoughts

of previousfailure.)

TRAPPED BYFAILURE

INNERCONSCIOUSMIND (SUB-CONSCIOUS

MIND)

CONSCIOUSMIND

Achiever cycle

NEWINSPIRINGTHOUGHTS

PRESENTLIMITED

RESULT X

NEWRESULT

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A page from Edison's notebooks showing a sketch ofan incandescent lamp, which he invented in 1879.All throughout the thousands of failed attempts,Edison had always held the vision of theincandescent lamp in his mind.

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“No one can stop me….I’ll never give up.”A. B VajpayeeAtal Behari Vajpayee wasborn into the family of ahumble school teacher onX’mas day in 1924 inGwalior, in the state ofMadhaya Pradesh, CentralIndia.His first brush withnationalist politics was inhis student days when hejoined the “Quit IndiaMovement” of 1942 whichhastened the end of theBritish Colonial rule inIndia. He took up politicalscience and law in collegeand developed a keen interest in foreign affairs. Upon graduationhe embarked on a journalist’s career but it was cut short whenhe joined the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP).He has been elected to the Lok Sabha (House Of The People)more than 9 times and to the Rajaya Sabha (House Of The States)twice.He finally succeeded to become PM of India in 1996 by Sheerhard work over 4 decades just to lose the post after a short periodof 13 days !He again lost his PMship in 1999 after 13 months and then lostagain in the 2004 Indian Election to Sonia Gandhi’s CongressParty after 4.5 years.He was conferred India’s 2nd highest civilian honour for hisselfless dedication to India and his more than half a centuryservice to society and the nation. In 1994, he was named India’sBest Parliamentarian.An ardent champion of women’s empowerment and socialequality, Vajpayee is still a bachelor. No longer the Prime Minister,he is currently the MP for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, NorthernIndia. He however has the very rare honour of being the thirdperson to be the Prime Minister of the world largest democracyfor 3 times !

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“It is not how far youfall, but how highyou bounce!”Pepsi Cola declared its firstbankruptcy on March 2,1923. It went bankruptagain in 1925. On May 18,1931, it filed its thirdbankruptcy petition.Not long ago its annual saleswas US$9.3 billion versusCoca-Cola corporation'sUS$8.4 billion.

“Positive thinking is thekey.”Johney Lever was born short,black skinned and wasconsidered ‘ugly’. As a youngboy he used to sellhandkerchiefs and pencilson the streets of Mumbai(Bombay). He struggled formore than 15 years and wasrejected by many moviedirectors. Today he is themost demanded actor byevery Bollywood movie. This‘ugly’ boy is now known asthe king of comedy in India’sfilm industry.

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AREFUL analysis of178 men who areknown to be successfuldisclosed the fact thatall had failed manytimes before arriving.

No man e ve rachieved worth whilesuccess who did not,at one time or other,find himself with atleast one foot hangingwell over the brink offailure.

C

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Here is one of the world's greatest advice:-

START DREAMINGAGAIN!

Have a NEW DREAM......like what Soichiro Honda did!

Consider the following statement by AlbertEinstein and you will know why having a newdream or idea each time you fail is of utmostimportance:-

“The significant problems we have cannotbe solved at the same level of thinkingwhich created them...”

“What people see of my success is only one percent butwhat they don't see is the 99 percent which are myfailures.”Soichiro Honda

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285Martin Luther King Jr.One of the greatest civil rights leaders of our times. He had adream... that one day we shall not be judged by the colours ofour skin or the length of our hair but by the contents of ourbrains. His world's famous speech “I have a dream!” was deliveredbefore a crowd of 250,000 people. His dream became a realitywhen Barrack Obama, the first African American becamethe 44th President of the United States of America.

I have a dream !

HE who is a bankrupt is notthe one who does not havea single cent in his pocketbut the person who does nothave a new dream.

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THOSE WHODARE TO DO

WHAT NOMAN HAS

EVER DONEBEFORE...

THEY WHODARE TO

FAIL...

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They told him to give up...

Sir Edmund Hillary failed in the eyes of many people in 1951and again in 1952, in his attempt to climb Mount Everest. In1953, he and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide were the firstpeople to reach the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest.

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16They say it can't be done...“The mile record is 4 minutes 12.75 seconds.This record will never be broken.”

Harry AndrewsBritish Olympic Coach, 1903.

In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a milein less than four minutes (3 minutes 59.4 seconds)

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Christiaan N. BarnardIn 1967, Christiaan Barnard became the first man to performthe first human heart transplant. In 1974, he again became thefirst person to implant a second heart in a patient linking thecirculation of the two hearts so that they worked together as one.

They say that humans can’t livewithout a heart...

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16They say it's impossible....“Man will never reach the moon regardless of all futurescientific advances.”Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father ofTelevision.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Alden Armstrong, commander of Apollo11 became the 1st person in the world to walk on the moon.

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16

Dolly, the world’s first sheep clone was created by Ian Wilmutand his colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.Unlike any mammal that has ever lived, Dolly is an identicalcopy of another adult and has no father.

They say it only happens inscience fiction...

The young Dolly (left) with her surrogate mother.

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16

“Everything that can beinvented has been invented.”

Charles H. Duell, DirectorU.S. Patent Office, 1899.

“There is no likelihoodthat man will tap the powerof the atom.”

Robert Milliken, Nobel Prize for

Physics, 1923.

“Who wants to hear actorstalk.”

Harry M. Warner, Warner BrothersPictures 1927, during the era of the

silent movies.

“We don't like their sound,and guitar music is on theway out.”

Decca Recording Company, rejectingThe Beatles in 1962.

“Singing is not your cup oftea.”

Music director of the film “Shaheed”in 1948 criticizing Lata Mangeshkar,

who later became the No. 1female singer in India.

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“The horse is here to stay, butthe automobile is only a novelty –a fad.”

President of Michigan Savings Bank,advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest

in the Ford Motor Company.

“You have a chip on your tooth,your Adam's apple sticks out toofar and you talk too slow.”

A Universal Pictures Executive whendismissing Clint Eastwood in 1959

“You ain't going nowhere... son.You ought to go back to drivin' atruck.”

Jimmy Denny, manager of theGrand Ole Opry, firing Elvis Presley

after one performance in 1954.

When Helen Hayes was a youngactress, she was only 5 foot tall.Her producer told her that if onlyshe were 4 inches taller, she couldbe a great actress. She later wenton to become “the first lady ofAmerica theater” regardless of herheight.


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16

In the 1940s , Ches te rCarlson's idea was turneddown by 20 companiesincluding some of the biggestin the country. After 7 longyears of rejections, in 1947, hisidea was accepted. The ideawas the Xerox machine.

“You'd better learnsecretarial work or else getmarried.”Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue

Book Modeling Agency tellingMarilyn Monroe in 1944.

Socrates was called “Animmoral corrupter of youth.”

“You have no talent.”The Judges telling Liv Ullman whowas later nominated twice for theAcademy Award for Best Actress.

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Alexander Graham Bell wassummarily ordered by an iratebanker to remove “that toy” fromhis office. As it turned out, “thattoy” was the telephone.

Sears & Roebuck lost half theoriginal founding team but gaineda fortune in 1895. Roebuck soldout to Sears for $25,000. Today,Sears reputedly sells $25,000worth of goods in 16 seconds!

When F W Woolworth mootedthe idea of a nickel-and-dimestore to his boss, his boss turnedhim down flat saying that “theidea is too risky and there are notenough items to sell for five andten cents.” Years later, the formerboss was heard to remark, “As faras I can figure out, every word Iused to turn down Woolworthcost me about a million dollars.”


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16RISK

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out is to risk involvement

To express feelings is to risk exposing yourtrue self.

To place your ideas, your dreams before thecrowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

“For every Bill Gates-type success story inthe United States, there are 5,000 failures.”

An analyst at Miti'scentre, Japan

“If no one ever took risks, Michelangelowould have painted the sistine floor.”

Neil SimonPulitzer Prize winning playwright.

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“Prudence, yes. Butbankers who want tobe certain always,who will take no riskat all will becomepure money-lendersor chettiars.”

Tun Dr Mahathir MohamadFormer Prime Minister of Malaysia

STOP PRESS

*

* An Indian caste who specialises in money lending

STOPPRESS


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16STOP PRESS – PRESIDENTGOING BANKRUPT!

“Dream what you dare todream

Do what you dare to doAnd be what you dare to be.”

Dr. Walter Doyle Staples.

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The President who failed, butchanged the world...The person who has the courage to lead theworld out of the cold war, hence changing theworld once and for all.“I would like to express myheartfelt thanks to those whostood by my side, defendingthe righteous and goodcause over all these years.We could have probablyavoided certain errors anddone better in many ways.But I’m convinced thatsooner or later, our commonefforts will bear fruits andour people will live in aprosperous and democratic society.”

Extract from Gorbachev’s televised address at thetime of his resignation, 25th December, 1991.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev

STOP PRESS

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The President whofailed, but changed

the world...


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16A tribute to the man who fails

Today I pay tribute to the failures ofyesteryears. Why?

For this reason:

That as I turn the pages of history into man'sstruggle to make our world a better place to livein, I see the “failures” of the past – failures that havemeant more to the human race than all the so-calledsuccesses recorded in the history of the world.

To d ay I p ay t r i b u t e t o S o c r a t e s –––––As I see his homely face when he stood at the veryend of the trail called failure, waiting, with upturnedeyes, moments which must have seemed like aneternity, just before he drank the cup of hemlockthat was forced upon him by his tormentors.

Today I pay tribute to Christoper Columbus– As I see him, a prisoner in chains, which was thetribute paid to him for his sacrifice in having set sailfor unknown and uncharted seas, to discover anunknown continent, and prove that the earth isround.

Today I pay tribute to Thomas Paine –––––As I see the face of the man whom the Englishsought to capture and put to death as the instigatorof the American Revolution. I see him lying in afilthy prison, in France, as he waited calmly, underthe shadow of the guillotine, for the death whichhe expected would be meted out to him for his parton behalf of humanity.

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Today I pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. – – – – –As I see him being struck down by a bullet from asniper – the prize he received for spreading love andpeace to serve humanity.

Today I pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi –As I see his sad face and frail body crumbling downas he took an assassin's bullet – the reward hereceived for his sacrifice on behalf of humanity.

Today I pay tribute to the Man of Galilee – – – – –As I see his face, as he suffered on the cross ofCalvary – the reward he received for his efforts onbehalf of suffering humanity.

Yes, today I pay tribute to all the failures nowand those yet to come, and all those unsung heroes– who failed on behalf of humanity.

Oh, to be such a failure,To go down in history, as these men did, as one

who was brave and courageous to face criticism;As one who dares to fail and to place humanity

above the individual and principle above materialgain!

On such “failures” rest the hopes of the world.Oh men, who are labelled “failures”, up, rise up!

Do it again!Somewhere in the world of action there will

always be room for you.

No failure was ever recorded in the annals oftruthful men, but only of the cowardly-hearted, whofail and dare not attempt again.

Today I pay tribute to the man who fails.

A tribute to theman who fails


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16

HE test of a man is in the fight he makes,The grit that he daily shows;

The way he stands on his feet and takesFate's numerous bumps and blows,

A coward can smile when there's naught to fear,When nothing his progress bars;

But it takes a man to stand up and cheerWhile some other fellow stars.

It isn't the victory, after all,But the fight that a brother makes;

The man who, driven against the wall,Still stands up erect and takes

The blows of fate with his head held high;Bleeding, and bruised, and pale,

Is the man who'll win in the by and by,

For he is the one who dares to fail.”

“TDARE TO FAIL

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VERY failure is a

lesson that drives a

person to try a new

approach never tried

before.

E

DARE TO FAIL


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16Notes

DARE TO FAIL


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16

Billi presenting his books to DatukSeri Najib Tun Razak, Prime

Minister of Malaysia.

Billi with the Former Prime Minister of India, A.B. Vajpayee.

Billi with Dato’ SeriAhmad Zahid Hamidi,defence minister ofMalaysia

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Billi (2nd from left) together with Michelle Yeoh, the James BondGirl and Sirivat Voravetvuthikun, the multi-millionaire turnedsandwich vendor in the popular talk show ‘Global’ on TV2.

Billi being interviewed on TV3 in Malaysia Today (MHI).

Billi being interviewed on popular morning show in Thailand“Ban Lek Ti Har” Channel 5.

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Billi giving a seminar to more than 2,000 people in Taiwan.

B i l l i c o n d u c t i n g at a l k t o a g r o u p o fFil ipinos in Manila,Philippines.

Billi conducting the “Dare To Fail” seminar in StockholmSweden to delegates from 130 countries.

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Billi giving a seminar to more than 5,000 people in Bangkok,Thailand

Billi giving a seminar inSurabaya, Indonesia.


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16

Billi in India planning thelaunch of his Hindi andEnglish book.

“My hair shall not grow if the economy doesn’t bounce back!”Billi sacrificing his hair in his effort to help the nation’s economyrecover. Smiling behind is Malaysia’s very own James Bond girl,Michelle Yeoh.

Bil l i g iv ing a press confe rence inHo Ch i Minh c i t y, V i e tnam.


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16Billi, a man who practises what hepreached... standing for election asan independent candidate in the10th, 11th and 12th MalaysianGeneral Election.


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16

F your life is free

of failures,

maybe you are

not taking

enough risk.

I

Who dares,wins

363

F you can keep on

trying after three failures

in a given undertaking,

you may consider

yourself a candidate for

a leadership role in your

present occupation. If

you can keep on trying

after a dozen failures,

the seed of genius is

sprouting within you.

I

364

A wise man once said, “It would beimpossible to live with a person who had neverfailed or been defeated in any of his purposes.”

“You don't learn about yourself throughyour success. You learn through your failuresand your mistakes.” - Wynonna (The “Judds”)

“There is the greatest practical benefit inmaking a few failures early in life.”

- Thomas Henry Huxley.

“There are a lot of ways to become a failure,but never taking a chance is the mostsuccesssful.”

“If you haven't failed yet, for the benefit ofyour career you probably should.”

- Reader's Digest.

“The best way to learn how to be a winneris to learn from winners and losers, especiallythe losers.” - Tun Daim Zainuddin

“In Japan, once you fail, you're considerednot only a loser but an outcast. We need tochange that kind of culture – and giveeverybody a second chance.”

Nubuo Tanaka, Director ofMiti's industrial-finance bureau, Japan.

365

“If something fails despite being carefullyplanned, carefully designed, andconscientiously executed, that failure oftenbespeaks underlying change and with it,opportunity.” - Peter Drucker.

“I think failure is important in anyone'scareer.” - Richard Gere.

“For more people to become entrepreneurs,we have to change our attitude towards thosewho fail.” - Senior Minister of Singapore

Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

“If you ever want to recruit anyone, makesure he has failed before.”

- Sales management guru, Tom Peters.

“Many times the only way we can find outwhat is possible is by finding out what is notpossible – in other words, by making amistake.” – Nelson Boswell

“The greatest failure is the failure to try.”- William A. Ward.

“He who has never failed, has never tried.”- Emmett Le Compte.

“Failure is success if we learn from it.”- Malcolm Forbes

Editor-in-Chief and ChairmanForbes Magazine

366

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can everhope to achieve greatly.”

- Robert F. Kennedy.

“The path of knowledge – which requires thefreedom within ourselves to make mistakes – isthe only way to gain true wealth and financialsuccess.”

- Robert T. Kiyosaki.

“Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, butalso upon error.”

- Carl Jung

“In Japan, bankrupt people are told to shut upand hide.”

- Yuichiro Itakura

“People who stop trying after one failure areactually being unfair to themselves. They areactually saying that life is made up of only onesingle event, if you can’t make it, that’s it!”

- Billi Lim

“I don’t divide the world into the weak andstrong or the successes and the failures andthose who make it or those who don’t. I dividethe world into learners and non-learners.”

- Benjamin Barber

Dare To Fail · Dare To Fail The most famous book on failure ever published. International...

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Transcript of Dare To Fail · Dare To Fail The most famous book on failure ever published. International...