You’re Unknown — So What?

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Most of you reading this have probably never heard of Samuel Pierpoint Langley. Mr. Langley was the Secretary of The Smithsonian Institute at one time.

The United States government came to Mr. Langley with a very important project. After all he was one of the smartest and most respected men of the time.

The government provided every monetary resource that Langley requested to complete the important assignment. The press gave the project almost daily coverage.

It was only a matter of time, everyone thought, before Langley would find the answer that would change the course of mankind.

Langley's invention took off from his houseboat and went straight into the Potomac River. (See illustration above)

Unfortunately, Langley failed. He was missing the one element that separates successes from failures.

The idea had been brought to him. It was not his own. He didn't have the passion to find the answer at any cost.

Two brothers working in a small bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio found the answer that had eluded him. They had the passion to find the answer: two unknowns - Orville and Wilbur Wright. The project — the airplane.

Some Final Thoughts

The point of this blog entry is this. Edison, Bell, Gates, Jobs and countless others were unknowns at one time. Did the fact that they were unknowns make their ideas and visions any less important?

As you go through life, consider each idea for its value — not where it comes from or who thought of it. If the idea has merit, what importance is the source?

If you are an unknown in your field, it doesn't matter. What does matter is your ideas. Someday someone will see the importance of your ideas and tell someone and they will tell someone.

I don't thank Edison every time I turn on a light, but I'm sure glad that he went through the thousands of trials and errors and never gave up on his idea.

I didn't write my book for many years thinking, who would buy a book written by me? It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

It finally dawned on me that the ideas IN the book are the important part not who presents those ideas. Never give up the passion for your ideas.

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