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Part 5: Inspiring People

Home-schooled because of poor academic performance,

Thomas Edison was never expected to impress anyone,

and yet became one of the greatest inventors of all time.

Many speculate his learning trouble was because Edison

was partially deaf. He strongly believed that his success

(later in life) was not a result of being an intellectual: but

rather a result of hard work.

Edison worked extremely hard, and at just twelve years

old he became an entrepreneur – selling fruit, snacks and

newspapers on a train. He even started printing his own

newspaper, The Grand Trunk Herald.

As a teenager Thomas Edison trained as a telegraph

operator. He was excellent at his job. During the Civil

War he was asked to work for the Union Army. As a

hobby Edison pulled things apart to see how they

worked. His curiosity as to how mechanical systems

work inspired him

to create inventions

of his own.

Edison devoted great time and effort

to his inventions, and after his first

invention – the electric vote recorder

– failed, he decided to devote more

time and effort to his inventions, and so moved to New

York. There he had his lucky break: improving the

efficiency of the stock ticker. Shortly after, his company

started manufacturing Edison’s innovation in New Jersey.

This was the first of many successful inventions.

Edison and his employees were often forced to work

through the night to create his works. The hard work paid

off – two of Edison’s three greatest works were invented

during that time. When Thomas Edison married his second

wife, Mida, they bought an expansive house in New

Jersey. He built a sizable laboratory that would later

become as famous as Edison himself. Edison spent all his

time in this lab, once working for three days straight –

only taking short naps.

Edison truly believed that you were only as successful as

the amount of work you are willing to put in, working until

the day he died (18 October 1931) at the age of 84. Not

only did he invent new products, but he also improved

various others along the way. For example, he worked on

the phonograph and X-rays several times. Although he will

be remembered as a genius, Edison did not believe he was

one, maintaining that you have to work hard to make your

dreams a reality.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways thatwon't work.”

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realizehow close they were to success when they gave up.”

“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of thepeople think they think; and the other eighty-fivepercent would rather die than think.”

“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed inoveralls and looks like work”

“The three great essentials to

achieve anything worthwhile are,

first, hard work; second, stick-to-

itiveness; third, common sense.”

“Failure is really a matter of conceit. People don't

work hard because, in their conceit, they imagine

they'll succeed without ever making an effort. Most

people believe that they'll wake up some day and find

themselves rich. Actually, they've got it half right,

because eventually they do wake up.”

References:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edis…http://www.thomasedison.com/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/edison.htm