Introduction
Obstacles are often challenges that prevent individuals from reaching their full potential. Problems create a sense of hopelessness and a desire to give up in the face of difficulties. However, they can also be perceived more positively as they facilitate growth, self-improvement, and resilience. While being more manageable, a path of no resistance is often the journey that will not generate maximum success.
Obstacles are excellent for building character, facilitating ambition, and minimizing stagnation. Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, and Tim Tebow, the athlete, are two individuals who have had contrasting approaches to obstacles and overcoming or failing because of difficulties. The current paper highlights how Eddison’s perseverance in the face of problems has assisted his career, while Tebow’s failure to address challenges has harmed his.
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison’s inventions changed the world and continue to have a vital role in most people’s lives worldwide. The invention of the lightbulb, alkaline battery, and the phonograph are all attributed to Edison (Wills, 2019). Despite his legacy, it is difficult to imagine that an individual with Edison’s intellect and vision encountered barriers to global recognition. Nonetheless, various sources mention that success resulted from exceptional perseverance and multiple failures that could have ended the inventor’s future career and opportunities.
Thomas Edison has, indeed, experienced a variety of drawbacks. During childhood, his teachers deemed him unintelligent and thought Edison could not learn appropriately as he had difficulties with various school subjects (Doolittle, 2019). However, this did not stop the inventor from following his dreams and believing in himself as he started building various machines and equipment. The barriers did not stop with the negative commentary of the school teachers.
During Edison’s professional career, he found it difficult to invent something that the public would deem useful and that investors would find worthy of financial assistance. An example of an invention that was not successful was the electric pen (Unwin, 2019). This is one of the many goods that were not implemented or that facilitated recognition for the person who patented them. The lightbulb considered his primary invention, was a product of more than one thousand failures (Wills, 2019). Nonetheless, he is remembered for the product he eventually succeeded at and is still applied as a source of electric light in most households.
Certainly, Edison’s path was not without failures. Through trial and error, he patented some of the most important inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries. Edison’s failures, however, helped him achieve excellence (Wills, 2019). He was a man of great willpower, ambition, and perseverance. Hence, he became more engaged and motivated to succeed every time he failed. As a result, he did not get discouraged by his mistakes but used them as fuel to generate the willpower to continue and triumph. His realistic and reasonable approach, combined with his desire to follow his dreams and not stop despite the barriers, has helped him become one of the greatest inventors in the world.
Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow’s popularity has been divisive due to its unstable nature. On the one hand, Tebow is a prominent athlete who has been an NFL quarterback for multiple seasons. On the other hand, while bringing him recognition and popularity, his career was often viewed negatively by the teams he played for and the fans. Researchers said he lacked achievements despite his promising background (Sabella, 2019). He only played in the league for three years before losing his appeal. Tebow’s failure was, to an extent, the focus of his coaches in lower leagues. Due to his size, he achieved excellent athletic results without his coaches putting effort into improving his throws.
Tim Tebow is currently not in the NFL. The barriers he encountered hurt his professional life as well as the perception of the public when it comes to his persona. Even though he did not achieve athletic success, Tebow was extremely popular. According to researchers, his attendance was enough for the public to be interested despite his failures (Paul et al., 2019). However, he did not recognize his strengths in capturing attention and has chosen to end his career in professional sports. A lack of mentors and extremely adverse reactions, typical in sports, have generated a hesitation to continue his journey towards athletic excellence. Hence, in this case, the limitations and challenges negatively impacted the person encountering them.
Overview
The two individuals that have been selected, Edison and Tebow, contrast various circumstances, including their professional fields, the eras in which they operated, and their impact on the world. However, one of the main differences is how they dealt with barriers and obstacles. In Edison’s case, he focused on positive outcomes, and his multiple failures did not change his mind about whether he should be an inventor (Wills, 2019). His confidence was not hindered, and he continued working despite the drawbacks and the adverse reactions that particular inventions generated.
The performance of tasks was not always on the highest level, yet perseverance and ambition have ultimately led to enormous success. Edison was realistic and reasonable when it came to acknowledging that he was talented and knowledgeable enough to succeed in his field. Hence, obstacles motivated him and drove him to advance as they were signs that he would remain resilient and change depending on the world’s needs.
On the other hand, Tebow focused on the adverse outcomes of the challenging tasks he faced. Being a professional athlete implies both physical and psychological work. On the one hand, Tebow had to entirely focus on training and becoming the best football player, while on the other hand, he had to learn to deal with unsatisfied fans. Furthermore, he lacked mentors who would apply effective leadership to build his confidence so that obstacles would not negatively affect his performance (Lippke & Warner, 2022). The failures hindered confidence and performance, and the athlete left professional sport. His goals were unreasonable and unrealistic as he did not have the physical abilities to achieve his objectives.
Conclusion
By comparing the perception of barriers and obstacles by Thomas Edison and Tim Tebow, the way they dealt with problems inevitably affected their overall success in their respective fields of expertise. Edison viewed obstacles and opportunities to improve. He was resilient and did not give up despite difficulties. Conversely, Tebow left professional sports and did not manage to turn negative feedback into an advantage, for example, as a source of inspiration on which aspects are to be improved. Hence, one’s approach to problems may be detrimental to how a person achieves success.
References
Doolittle, B. R. (2019). Failure in residency education: Lessons learned from Harry Potter, Oprah Winfrey, and the Marigold Hotel. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 11(2), 233–234. Web.
Lippke, S., & Warner, L. M. (2022). Understanding and overcoming challenges in times of personal or global crisis—editorial on the special issue on loneliness and health. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 15(1), 3–23. Web.
Paul, R. J., Garrett, C., Barbuto, C., & Liotta, K. (2019). Celebrity attraction in the minors: The case of Tim Tebow. Journal of Economics and Finance, 43(4), 795–812. Web.
Sabella, J. (2019). Postures of piety and protest: American Civil Religion and the politics of kneeling in the NFL. Religions, 10(8), 449. Web.
Unwin, P. (2019). ‘An extremely useful invention’: Edison’s Electric Pen and the unravelling of Old and new media. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 25(4), 607–626. Web.
Wills, I. (2019). Thomas Edison: Success and Innovation Through Failure. Springer International Publishing.