“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you. ‘And they said, ‘No’. So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet’.”

Steve Jobs attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

We’ve all been told “no” when we wanted a “yes.”

It hurts.

It sucks.

It helps us.

Wait, WHAT?!

Imagine if Atari had simply hired the Steves. Would they have become all they became? Would they have done all they have done?

My oldest daughter, Faith, has been an actress since she was 6 years old. She loves it. But, she’s never had the lead in any play she’s been in. She has gotten a lot of “no.” It’s frustrating for her and there have been tears…

But she is driven. Faith taught herself tap via Youtube in the unfinished part of our basement. She talked us into getting her voice and dance lessons. She found an extra choir group to join outside of her school. She auditions for every play she can find. She applied to every modeling/advertising agency in town until one accepted her.

She has worked and practiced HARD to become the actress/singer/dancer she wants to be. If she had gotten more “yes” along the way, I don’t think she would have worked as hard. Why practice so much when you’re already getting all the good parts?

The other day I asked her, would you rather have the lead in the school play or keep working hard, getting better and having an acting career later?

How about you?

What “no” made you better?

Go!