Give Up? Hell No

Damn, it's getting harder and harder to get anywhere in this world. Just three years ago I was a top touring club comedian. Now, I'm flat broke and can't find work anywhere. I didn't suck as a comic. I was in the business for twenty years. You don't last that long by sucking.

But somewhere along the way I lost my drive, my willpower, my determination. I guess I just got tired to entertaining a bunch of drunk twenty-five year olds who don't respect themselves much less me or anyone else.

I've tried Christian comedy, but I'm not having any luck in that arena. I will gladly e-mail my one sheet to anyone who wants to view it and tell me what’s wrong with it. It's the same one sheet that I'm sending to the churches.

I've thought so many times about giving up, but then I read the biography of Thomas Edison, (supposedly) inventor of the light bulb. I say that because the light bulb was actually invented about fifty years before Edison invented it, but Edison’s was the best.

When Edison set out to invent the light bulb he believed in what he was doing. That's why he wouldn't accept failure. He tried over a thousand times before he got the light bulb to work, over a thousand.

When he finally did invent it, a reporter asked him "How does it feel to have failed over a thousand times?" Edison's reply was, "Failure? I don't understand failure. I simply found over a thousand ways not to invent the light bulb."

What a great way to look at it. I figure if Edison can fail over a thousand times then I can certainly handle a few hundred.

How many people do you know who give up after one or two attempts at something? Maybe you’re that way. If you are, just think of Edison and keep trying. If you believe in what you’re doing, it will eventually work.

So many people don’t realize how close they were to success when they gave up.