In 1879, Thomas Edison took a piece of common household thread, carbonized it and gave birth to the first practical light bulb filament while making history. His bulb burned for over 13 hours and started a modern-day lighting. But it was not this event that was so amazing. It was the fact that he began a year earlier and had tried thousands of materials that did not burn; many for only moments. Yet he methodically continued to weed through every type of filament that he could procure. When an associate asked if he was discouraged by his failure, he replied that he had not failed and wouldn’t, until the time he stopped trying. This dogged determination is what separated those that have made history from those that could have made history. In some cases it’s a matter of circumstance and mere moments.

Consider the gambler pulling the one-armed bandit, aka, slot-machine. He or she may play for minutes of hours. But eventually, in most cases, they walk away empty-handed. If they had pulled one more time, would they have hit the jackpot? We will never know. So why did they leave? Did they exhaust their funds, get bored, hit something small, or move to another machine? Regardless of motive, they lost at this particular juncture.

We do this every day. We face obstacles and challenges. Did something in the house break this morning? Was it a part on an appliance, a computer glitch, the car’s engine, or something simple? Did you attempt to fix it or not even try? How far did you get, if you did give it a shot? How much time, energy, research, and determination did you apply? What is your frustration level? Do you typically cave in easily when facing adversity?

How about with relationships? Are you short-tempered, quick-to-judge, and inflexible? Do you argue and not look at the alternative sides? Can you admit when you are wrong? Do you ever admit you’re sorry or hold grudges for days or weeks? Do you work well with others, valuing their opinions and asking for their help and ideas, or do you isolate yourself and only trust your own intuition? At what point do you realize you need assistance or are you oblivious to your own imperfections?

To be a success, you have to know when to look for answers beyond your limited scope. And you have to be willing to discard poor results, even if they took days, months, or years to achieve. Going down the wrong path is the cause of many business disasters because of the amount of wasted resources. If only management had recognized the problems and moved toward a new direction, they might have created a terrific product or service. But they weren’t ready to admit defeat and sacrificed the whole company in the process. The thought of having to start over, or commit to more time and money, was too much to bear. So they closed the firm possibly only months or moments from success.

Whether you’re repairing the vacuum cleaner, learning to play the piano, starting a business or seeking a mate, the idea is the same. Once you decide to quit, you’ve given up the chance of success. No one said it would be easy. There are no short cuts to finding the right answers. It involves total commitment and determination. Sometimes it requires personal and financial sacrifice. It always demands your time. But you must be willing to make the effort for the ultimate benefit of a good outcome. Chose your battles. Some are definitely worth winning. Others can be left to the experts. Rebuilding that transmission or treating a disease are the more obvious examples. But if you truly want to get that invention or business off the ground, you had better think about the goal and what it will take. Are you ready to give it all you have and succeed, or is it something that will keep you attention for a short while and dissolve into a passing thought that might have been. It’s up to you to decide how much you really want it and what you could achieve. And while you’re at it, imagine how your world would look today bathed in candle-light it Edison had given up after the first few tries.