Going Beyond Failure

Another day, another day of painting my paintings that hang all over my house, many of them stacked up against each other in closets, a few more living with friends. I'll tell you, it's hard to stay motivated when you're a failure. But what is a failure anyway, and who says that's so bad?

Pretty much everyone knows about Vincent van Gogh not selling any of his paintings during his lifetime, although I recently read he did sell one, and I've sold a lot more than one. (I also read that he did not cut off his entire ear, only part of it, so who knows, maybe he sold a ton of paintings while he was alive. Fake news didn't just start with Trump.) Van Gogh was depressed and psychotic and shot himself at the age of 37, after which his paintings became wildly popular. I have no intention of doing that, but I do wonder if after my death my enormous body of work will finally be recognized as brilliant. (Just in case, I suggest you buy one of my paintings while you still can.)

British author J. K. Rowling was rejected by a dozen publishers before Harry Potter made her a legend. Now you can't touch anything she writes without paying for it, while my books are still free and available online. (And FYI, I've been rejected by way more than a dozen publishers.) So have a look before I burst onto the scene and stop taking your calls.

Rumors persist that Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four, could not read until he was seven, and married his cousin. I have no idea if any of that is true, but I know for a fact that my own son was talking before he was two and reading at age three, so go figure. (He is not at all attracted to his cousin.) Einstein went on to discover something I don't understand but apparently turned out to be the smartest person who ever lived, or maybe by now the second smartest, since by all reports playing video games makes you smarter and there are millions of gamers playing billions of games.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team for being too short (he was 5'11"). Today he is a fantastically wealthy retired superstar who owns a basketball team, is a motivational speaker, and appears in commercials and on talks shows. My point is, you must never give up. Never! After all, if you do give up and decide you're a failure, then what are you going to do every day? Go shopping and to the movies with your friends?