Things we can learn from Thomas Alva Edison…..⚡⚡⚡

 Forget talent, genius is hard work

“Genius is hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense.” — Thomas Edison

Edison claimed that he was not born particularly talented. He was a firm believer in hard work and perseverance. It was character traits and good habits that made him successful, not some sort of genius gene.

What if you just aren’t as creative as him? Edison also claimed that “invention is two percent inspiration and 98 percent perspiration.” Those who knew him claimed he had zero tolerance for lazy people. Never write yourself off because you aren’t as smart or creative as the great successes around you. All you need to be great is hard work.

“There is no substitute for hard work.” — Thomas Edison

 Stay in touch with your customers

We all know Thomas Edison as America’s great inventor, but some don’t know that he was also a marketing guru. In 1869, Edison invented an electronic vote counter with the ability to greatly reduce the hassle and time it took to vote. To his astonishment, the counter turned out to be a huge flop. Why? Because legislatures didn’t want efficient voting. They wanted time for deliberation and lobbying. From that early failure, Edison realized that his inventions must fix his customer’s real problems, not the problems that he assumed they would have.

“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success“. — Thomas Edison

He forced himself to refrain from inventing anything purely for the sake of inventing it. Instead, he went out and found real problems people were frustrated with and designed his inventions to solve those problems.

Don’t be afraid of naps

Thomas Edison boasted that he slept for only a few hours each night and could work for three days straight. However, his dirty secret lied in an unusual ability to take power naps. Edison was famous for napping anywhere and everywhere. He sometimes napped for up to three hours, multiple times a day! One of his assistants insisted that his “genius for sleep equaled his genius for invention.”

This ability to power nap allowed him the flexibility to get into the zone and work for incredibly long periods of time. He could charge up on sleep whenever it was convenient or whenever he needed a creative boost.

Remember that failure is your friend

One of Edison’s biggest keys to success was his attitude toward failure. He saw failure as an opportunity to learn something and grow and was never discouraged by it.

“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” — Thomas Edison

Never give up

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try one more time.” — Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison was the epitome of perseverance. He claimed to have tried thousands of different filaments before finding a cheap but reliable substance to use for his electric light bulbs.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” — Thomas Edison

Take Notes

By writing your ideas and thoughts down on paper, you free your cognitive resources to stay focused on the task at hand. To date, five million pages of Edison’s notes have been found and preserved. He used notes for many different purposes. He kept organized files so that he would never have to do the same research twice. He also kept to-do lists and reminders to keep him on task. He also had messy notes filled with mixed-up inventions, attempts at poetry and calligraphy, and the occasional new idea. It seems as if he almost used paper as a medium for better expressing the workings of his brain and finding new ways to synthesize ideas.

Challenge Assumptions

Thomas Edison endured all of twelve weeks of formal education in his life. Soon after he enrolled in school as a young child, his teacher complained that he was hyperactive and stupid. So Edison’s mother pulled him out and taught him herself at home.

Edison viewed his lack of formal education as a blessing. He said it helped him to be innovative, to challenge assumptions. When tackling a new invention, Edison tested wildly. He often tried (and occasionally succeeded in creating) things that scientists considered impossible.

Perspiration

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas Edison said: “The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is that it goes around wearing overalls and it looks like hard work.”

There is no success without hard work because it’s something you can only earn after much labor. And working hard for success enables you to become a valuable person who attracts success.

Capability

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Most people are living considerably beneath their capabilities. They’ve never focused all of their efforts on a singular task.

This is why they are completely unaware of the power they possess. Everyone is good at something, and if the singular focus is given to that talent over the course of years, amazing things will be done. You are capable of astonishing yourself!

Solitude

“The best thinking has been done in solitude.”

I have had my best thoughts locked away in a quiet room.

Take time every day to escape to a quiet room, if only for five minutes, to have your best thoughts. It’s hard to think about achieving the impossible when you’re surrounded by people wanting to discuss only the possible. Escape to a quiet room today and begin to see all your possibilities.

Restlessness

“Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress.”

Thomas Edison said, “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.”

As long as you’re perfectly content, you can’t make progress. Nothing happens until you become discontented.

If you can live with being 30 pounds overweight, then you won’t have the power to change it. Remember, “discontent is the first necessity of progress”.

Perspective

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Perspective is everything!

Edison said, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.”

That’s the way we should view our life, not as a compilation of failures, but a series of necessary experiments letting us know what doesn’t work. From this perspective, we can move into doing what works, and from there, we can succeed.

Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common Sense

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.”

Nothing can replace hard work as it’s fundamental to success. If you’re not willing to work hard, you won’t even have a chance at success. No one succeeds and says “That was really easy!”

Additionally, you have to have a no-give-up attitude. You must be willing to stick to a task that you’re passionate about and never lose focus. And the final key is “common sense”. Although we all have it, we don’t use it as we should.

Conclusion

You have what it takes to succeed. You have the ability to work hard, stay focused, and use common sense.

Are you going to do it?

I think you are.

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