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How many times have we started the year or week and thought, “This is my year” or “This week I’m going to lose 5 pounds?” Maybe it’s “This year I’m finally going to lose my excess weight” or “I’m going to be perfect this week.” Maybe we started the week just the way we wanted, but ended it totally off plan and had a gain. Unfortunately, there may have been a year – maybe more than one – in which we ended the year thinking, “It figures! Not only did I not lose weight, but I’ve gained weight.”
Losing weight is definitely a challenge. It’s important to journal. It’s equally important to drink water. And, as much as we hate to admit it, it’s also very important to exercise. Believe it or not, there is something more important than ALL of those things! You’re probably wondering what that is. I’ll share that with you in a little while. In the meantime, let’s look at a few inventions that bring ease, fun, and flavor to our lives.
This is something that we use every day. We could not even begin to imagine life without it. Occasionally, after a bout of bad weather, we get a small taste of what our lives would be without it. When this item was invented, the inventor tried over 6,000 – yes 6,000!! – plant growths from around the world before finding the ideal item needed to perfect his invention. The item he was trying to find is now known as filament and that invention is the electric light bulb.
A gentleman felt this invention was a necessary addition to his life. In 1912, he sold all his jewelry stores to finance his invention. In 1917, a fire broke out in his warehouse and his prototype and blue prints were lost. In order to start again, it took him a few years to build up his finances and find investors. In 1928, the first bread slicer was used! Customers loved the idea of uniform slices of bread for sandwiches and toast, but bakers felt that sliced bread would quickly dry-out. What did the inventor do? He invented another bread slicer that would wrap the bread!
This particular invention is a staple in everyone’s kitchen. I would guess that everyone has used one at least once in their life and probably many times more. There are some people that use one several times a week. It was invented in 1926 and sat on store shelves without much success. The inventor didn’t give up and continued marketing it. Once sliced bread came out, he changed his original item to fit the uniform slices of bread. His updated invention was a huge success. Of course, this item is the pop-up toaster!
None of us could probably list professional sports and not mention this one. Even if we’re not fans of it, we’ve all heard of it. A gentleman was given 14 days to come up with an athletic distraction for his rowdy students to participate in during the harsh winter months. He invented a sport that was originally played with peach baskets used to catch the ball. Soon after, a metal rim and rope net was used. After a decade of playing in this manner, someone had a thought to remove the bottom of the net to avoid having to climb a ladder to remove the ball. We call this game basketball!
During World War II, this gentleman attempted to discover synthetic rubber. After the war was over, there wasn’t much use for this synthetic rubber. Six years later, another gentleman realized the novelty of the item and marketed it. No childhood is complete without this invention – Silly Putty!
A doctor was determined to invent a new soda fountain beverage. After a soda jerk mistakenly added carbonated water to it, it was discovered to be a “happy accident.” The first year it was marketed, this beverage made $50. Unfortunately, it cost $70 to produce. That’s a loss of almost 50%. Not favorable odds to continue marketing the beverage. But he did. Today’s sales of that product reach over $15 million a year. For those that don’t know, this beverage is coca cola. Fortunately for us, Diet Coke was invented in 1982!
As I stated above, there is something more important than journaling. More important than drinking water. More important than exercise. What is that?! It’s NEVER giving up!! It’s not important to be perfect, but it’s extremely important to be persistent!
Imagine if Thomas Edison gave up after trying only a few times to invent the filament that is used in light bulbs today. For him, failure was not an option. we need to have that same determination. Edison once said, "I haven't failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that didn't work." When you have a gain at the scale or don't do as well as you had hoped on your food plan, you haven't failed. You've simply found another way that won't work!
I cannot begin to fathom what Otto Rohwedder felt like when a fire destroyed all his hard work after working on inventing the bread slicer. Talk about dedication! How many times have we thought about giving up after a bad week or a bad day? Those of us that haven’t had weight loss success can really relate to Rohwedder. I suppose being at or close to your original starting weight is somewhat feeling like Rohwedder did after that fire. But he started again from scratch. And you can, too!
That Charles Strite was a brilliant man. He witnessed the success of the bread slicer and adapted his toaster to compliment the bread slicer. Let’s all be as brilliant as Strite! If you see something working for someone else, learn from their success – adjust your plan, if necessary – and let success be yours as well!
Ten years after James Nasmith invented basketball – a hugely successful sport – someone knew that it could be modified to make it even more successful. Cutting the bottom out of the net didn’t change the game in its entirety, but it’s surely played with more ease. If you’ve been working the same plan for many years, don’t feel that it doesn’t need modification. Even if it appears to be working, there may be something that can be changed to improve on it even more!
When James Wright was told that there was no further use for his synthetic rubber, he accepted that. However, Peter Hodgson had the idea for Silly Putty. Make sure you’re more like Hodgson then Wright. Don’t accept it when someone tells you that something is useless. Just because it doesn’t work for someone else, doesn’t mean it’s not going to work for you!
Not enough can be said about Dr. Pemberton! He believed in himself and his product so deeply that he was willing to lose 50% of his initial investment! Are you equally invested in reaching your dreams and goals?!
I didn’t intend for this to be a history lesson. My hope is that you now realize that it can take many attempts, several times in which we try again, and even numerous new beginnings to reach our dreams and goals! If these genius inventors are permitted to start all over again, keep trying, or even start from scratch again – surely we are, too!
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