Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
August 2018
- When This Executive Was Fired, He Took Charge
- Obeying The Speed Limit Has Never Been More Fun
- London Black Cabs Helped Uber Grow
- Bette Graham Created A Product To Fix Her Mistakes
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Had An Interesting Start
July 2018
- Fear This Instead Of Failure
- Re-Releasing Songs Created Success
- A CEO's Purposeful Mistake
- The Tardy Student And The Unsolvable Problem
- Fixing Potholes Through Graffiti
June 2018
- A Surprising Mistake In The Oxford English Dictionary
- US Army Embraces Mistakes
- Blocking A Hymn
- Eddie Shore Was Truly A Tough Guy
- [Video] Elon Musk Didn't "Pivot" He Failed
May 2018
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness Part 2
- Necessity Turned Accessory: Allen Iverson's Sleeve
- This Doctor Has Continued To Fail
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness
- MIT Accidentally Creates New Smelting Process
April 2018
- Johnny Cash Quit Singing Lessons
- Cruise Control Came Out of Frustration
- Time Spent Gaming Pays Off In The Navy
- Rock Around The Clock Was a Commercial Failure
- Sigmund Freud Should Have Been Discouraged
March 2018
Popular Music
Trivia question: What was the first piece of instrumental sheet music to sell over one million copies? You might be surprised to learn it’s a song by someone that most would probably expect to fail.
The ditty is called Maple Leaf Rag, and it was released in 1899 by Scott Joplin. Here’s the piece (direct MP3 download) which you will certainly recognize:
Joplin’s life story would have made a great piece for Failure: The Secret to Success. Nobody knows exactly when he was born. Joplin was an African-American who grew up in the rural South, as part of the first post-slavery generation. His family was poor, and his love of music frustrated Joplin’s father—who wanted him to pursue a more practical career. Before the boy had reached puberty, Giles Joplin abandoned his wife and six children. This departure was partially out of disapproval for the mother’s support of Scott Joplin’s interest in music.
Photo © sinbam.com
There are plenty more stories of Joplin’s struggles. That song, Maple Leaf Rag, was rejected outright by two publishers before finally being accepted by John Stark. The sheet music didn’t do well at first either, selling only 400 copies in the first year. It took ten years for it to pass the one million mark.
Joplin also attempted to produce an opera called A Guest of Honor. He hired thirty people and organized a tour across the midwest. But shortly after the production launched, someone affiliated with the theater company stole the box office proceeds. This practically destroyed their cashflow, and Joplin had to cancel the tour because he couldn’t make payroll.
Despite these failures, Scott Joplin did practically invent a whole new genre of music. He is an essential part of American history and an important hero to African-Americans. Again, the moral of the story is that failure is key to success. We must struggle to know how far we’ve come. We must experience loss to know triumph.
