When I think about those people who are capable of facing adversity and using it to move forward, the story of Mary Kay Ash comes to mind first. She built an extraordinary company. Over the past four or five years, I have had numerous opportunities to discuss leadership with members of her cosmetics company. In fact, as I travel the country giving lectures and hosting seminars, there always seem to be at least a dozen Mary Kay representatives in the audience, wherever I go.

I have a lot of admiration for Mary Kay. She overcame many obstacles in her professional life, and she never let failure get her down. She started out in direct sales, an area where she excelled. But she found it challenging for a woman to advance in the business world, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, even after she herself had succeeded for 25 years. She said:

“I had climbed every rung and sat on the company’s board of directors. But I realized that even though our sales force was entirely composed of women representatives, it was led by a male board, and my opinions were worthless to them. I was constantly told, ‘Mary Kay, you still think like a woman!’ I felt rejected in the worst way. So, I decided to retire.”

But this retirement didn’t last long. A month later, inactivity became unbearable for her, and she felt ready to start her own business. She believed that if there were obstacles in her way, she must have created them herself. She chose to enter the cosmetics industry and create a company that would offer endless opportunities to each of its employees. She acquired the formulas for the best beauty products she could find, developed a business strategy, and started her company.

PROBLEM!

She quickly encountered her first obstacle. When she met with her lawyer to settle the legal aspects of her project, he insulted her and predicted failure. “Mary Kay,” he said, “if you want to waste all your savings, why not throw them out the window right now? It would be much simpler.” Her accountant also made similar remarks.

But despite their efforts to dissuade her, she persevered. She invested all her savings, $5,000, in her new business. She delegated administrative tasks to her husband and threw herself wholeheartedly into product preparation, package design, training material writing, and recruiting representatives. They were making great strides. But a month before the official opening of her business, her husband suffered a heart attack right in the middle of their kitchen.

Few people manage to continue moving forward after such a trial. Most people accept defeat and quietly withdraw. But not Mary Kay. She persevered, and on September 13, 1963, she launched her business.

Today, her company records annual sales of around one billion dollars, employs 3,500 people, and has 500,000 direct sales representatives in 29 markets worldwide. And Mary Kay Ash has received practically every award an entrepreneur could dream of. Despite problems, obstacles, and difficult circumstances, she managed to overcome adversity.

If you perceived failure differently and reacted differently to it, what would you try to achieve?

THE IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION

In my youth, one of the questions I heard most often from motivational speakers was, “If the possibility of failure were eliminated, what would you try to achieve?

I found this question fascinating. At the time, it prompted me to consider the possibilities life offers. But I eventually realized it wasn’t a good question. Why? Because it leads people astray. There is no achievement without failure. Merely suggesting that it’s possible misleads people. So here’s a better question: If you perceived failure differently and reacted differently to it, what would you try to achieve?

I don’t know what obstacles you’re facing right now. But whatever they are, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you can change your life simply by changing your perception of failure. You’re capable of overcoming all problems, mistakes, and misfortunes. You just need to learn to overcome adversity. If you’re ready to do that, keep reading!

This text is an excerpt from the book “Overcoming Adversity: How to Use Your Mistakes as a Springboard to Success” written by John C. Maxwell.

We invite you to read the following article “A New Definition of Failure and Success“.

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