Life Training - “Powerful Four Letter Words!

As the famous Latin quotation goes, “Veni, vedi, velcro'' -- ''I came, I saw, I stuck around!''

This can be testified by Heisman trophy winner Herschel Walker who once said, “My God-given talent is my ability to stick with something longer than anyone else.”

Here's a brief insight on the meager beginnings of the super-successful producer of Star Wars –   George Lucas. Like most successful people he didn't just move smoothly through the ranks to become a great producer.  Rather, he had to develop his skills, recover from setbacks and rejection, and show a painstaking dedication to perfect his craft. He studied film at the University of Southern California and began working on a film by Francis Ford Coppola, a documentary on the side, while squeezing in work on his first feature script between 5:00 and 9:00 AM.  When he completed the script, he thought it was terrible and anticipated that it wouldn't get even a single thumbs-up.  He showed it to Coppola, who agreed that he is absolutely right. It came to his mind to hire a writer, but Coppola disagreed.  ''No,'' said Coppola, ‘‘If you're going to make it in this business, you have to learn how to write.''  So he did.

Later, he wrote a sci-fi film and presented it to Warner Brothers. It was entitled THX 1138. They rejected the film which Lucas had worked on for three years at his own expense. Rejecting the film meant abandoning Lucas and leaving him deeply in debt.

Despite what happened, Lucas didn't lose hope and decided to start working with a new set of film in a different genre. He worked on a rock'n'roll film set in the late 50's and early 60's. After being rejected by every other company in town but Ned Tannen of Universal Pictures insisted to accept the film. Though other angry executives wanted it dropped, they went ahead and produced the film American Graffitti which became a blockbuster.

After researching about kid's movies, ancient myths that have endured, and elements in fairy tales that had made them loved by kid’s generation after generation, he decided to try another sci-fi movie. And this time, he wanted to perfect his craft. To make the space battles look more realistic, he meticulously studied real war footages and did drawing based on them. He looked for those elements that will make the audience believe in what they are seeing. He continued his research by watching movies that had shown air to air combat sequence and he wanted to know why and how each shot worked making every movement look real. With all the ordeals he had gone through, it was no longer surprising that Star Wars grossed 3.5 million in its first nine days, becoming the most successful box office hit until that time.

Never ever think of quitting. It doesn't deserve a space in your vocabulary. Quit is “only a four letter word!”

Never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever quit! Need I say more? You'll never know until you try.

Henry Ford said ... "Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."

Hindrances and adversities that come your way are there to test how viable your skills are. Try being more optimistic. After all, nobody got blind by looking at the brighter side of life.

Winners never quit; quitters never win. Victory is not won in miles, but by inches. Never ever quit for your personal mission is to succeed.