“When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others,” said Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Pacific from Hawaii to California. She set speed records, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, and disappeared over the Pacific Ocean before her 40th birthday.

Amelia Earhart knew about obstacles, fear, and overcoming failure. If you want to succeed despite your fears and frustrations, read Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently.

And, here are five ways to overcome failure and be more successful in life…

5 Ways to Overcome Failure -  Amelia Earhart

1. Keep a record of other successful women’s achievements. Earhart kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings describing the achievements of fearless women in mechanical engineering, film direction and production, and advertising. She knew how hard it can be to forge ahead, especially in male-dominated fields. These newspaper clippings no doubt kept Earhart’s motivation, passion, and confidence alive!

2. Stay connected to your mentors. Whether you’re a fan of a strong woman in history like Earhart or your good old granny, stay hooked in with her. A mentor doesn’t have to be present in your actual life; you can be mentored through books, websites, forums, e-mail, and even movies. Learn how your mentor overcame failure. You’ll can apply her wisdom to your life even if she kept failing. Especially if she kept failing and eventually succeeded.

3. Mentor others. Earhart was a guidance or career counselor for young women at a university. She was also the aviation editor for Cosmo Magazine, and she wrote books about her successes and failures. I think all this contributed to her success! The more you encourage and inspire others, the more you yourself will be encouraged and inspired. Mentoring others – even if it’s just a phone call every month or two – can help you overcome failure by lifting your self-esteem and self-confidence.

4. Learn resilience. This is your “bounce back” factor. How quickly do you bounce back from setbacks or mistakes? Think of resilience as being like one of those punching bags for kids. Those bags just kept bouncing back up no matter how hard the kid punched (but not if a knife was pulled). Of course, I’m not saying we should be punching bags! But, the higher our “bounce back” factor is, the more success we’ll enjoy – and the happier we’ll be.

5. Learn from your past failures. “Successful dieters meet their goals by learning from past failures,” say the folks at the National Weight Control Center. Maybe you’ve failed at losing weight, or you don’t exercise regularly, or you can’t get into the habit of eating healthy foods. That’s okay, as long as you learn why you’re failing. Are you being sabotoged? Are you lazy? Are you dealing with some heavy life problems? Figuring out the root of the problem is a productive way to overcome failure.

To learn more about how to be a successful woman, read 7 Signs of Inner Peace – The Peace Pilgrim.

Related posts:

1. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
2. How to Succeed Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart
3. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart

Here’s what she said when asked about the danger of flying:

“I am quite aware of the hazards,” said Earhart. “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, failure must be a challenge to others.”

I love how Earhart compared women to men – and accepted that failure happens. She was criticized publicly, despite her smashing successes — and she learned to overcome failure.  If you’re reaching for success but can’t quite reach it, read Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently.

And, here’s how Earhart succeeded despite criticism…

Succeeding Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart

Foolish publicity stunts? Some of Amelia’s ventures, such as her solo flight from Honolulu to Washington in 1935, were criticized as foolish publicity stunts. If she was lost at sea – and she indeed crashed on land several times – she would cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in search and rescue efforts (which she eventually did, to the tune of $4 million).

Flying without a purpose? Plus, Earhart used the U.S. Army’s public resources, such as runways and manpower, to get her “ships” in the air. People sometimes questioned the purpose of her flights. One Newsweek reporter wrote, “Every so often Miss Earheart, like other prominent flyers, pulls a spectacular stunt to hit the front pages. This enhances a flyer’s value as a cigarette endorser, helps finance new planes, [and] sometimes publishes a book.”

Useless adventures? A journalist from the British weekly The Aeroplane called her solo journey across the Atlantic “a useless adventure” because she had already proven her courage and ability. This reporter suggested that Amelia’s drive to achieve was because of “boredom – a dangerous feature of modern life.”

Amelia Earhart flew as often and as far as she could, and despite criticism from some paparazzi members, she succeeded. She bounced back and overcame failure. That alone – aside from her records in speed and distance – makes her a successful, strong woman in history.

To succeed despite criticism, remember that it’s not always about you. “Don’t take things personally; someone’s always going to be mad at you and that’s okay,” writes Robert K. Cooper in The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life. “What other people convey – in what they think, feel, say, and do – is rarely about you; instead, it’s almost always about them.” 

Earhart’s critics may have been dealing with their own issues – and even if they weren’t, who cares? Life is too short to get our panties in a knot because of what people say! Read 5 Ways to Build Resiliency – JK Rowling to increase your “bouncebackability” factor.

And, don’t let criticism slow you down! No matter what you do or how hard you try, there will be some people — such as difficult family members — who don’t understand and who will criticize you. It’s inevitable.

Listen to what your critics say, decide whether there’s a life lesson in there for you, and either let it go or learn from it. Don’t obsess about criticism, worry about it, or let it stop you from achieving your goals. In everthing exists a possible way to see Jane soar!

How do you respond to criticism – and have you succeeded anyway? How do you take back your power and turn ”woe is me” into action?

Related posts:

1. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart
2. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
3. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart

The life lesson: to succeed, you have to take risks. The successful woman in history: Amelia Earhart. Here’s how Earhart succeeded by taking risks…and how her experience applies to your life!

“…I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by,” said Earhart – but even though she loved planes, she couldn’t “just” fly.

Earhart had to work hard to earn money to pay for flight lessons, planes, fuel, contest entry fees, navigators, and so on…and she earned her money by taking risks. These risks helped her succeed and increased her self-confidence. Here’s what Earhart did - and why taking risks helps women succeed.

To learn more about successful women, click on More Than 85 Broads: Women Making Career Choices, Taking Risks, and Defining Success- On Their Own Terms.

Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart

To pay for her flight lessons, Earhart drove a truck, hauled gravel, and worked at the telephone company. After she bought her first plane and in between flights, she taught English to immigrant factory workers and became a social worker.

Earhart reluctantly married publishing magnate George Palmer Putnam in 1931 – this was a risk that helped her succeed! She wrote him a letter stating that marrying him was “as foolish as anything I could do” (this, from a woman who flew alone over vast oceans through fog, rain, and darkness at 10,000 feet, inhaling gas fumes, barely eating or sleeping). After the wedding she insisted on keeping her full name – “Miss Amelia Earhart” – for business and writing purposes.

Putnam called himself “Mr. Earhart.”

Amelia Earhart’s Jobs

She definitely wasn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty. Her jobs included:

• Gravel truck driver
• Photographer
• Nurse’s aid in WWI
• Teacher
• Telephone company clerk
• Pre-med student at Columbia University
• Social worker
• Aviation editor for Cosmo magazine
• Career counselor for female college students
• Book author (20 Hrs., 40 Min. in 1928 and For the Fun of It in 1932)
• Fashion designer
• Lecturer (her principal source of income)
• Creator of and investor in National Airways, a commercial airline
• Endorser of products such as Kodak film, airplanes, gasoline and oil products, etc.

Earhart lectured about flying and wrote many articles and essays for magazines, as well as two books: 20 Hrs., 40 Min. in 1928 and For the Fun of It in 1932. Earhart was the aviation editor for Cosmo magazine and a career counselor for women students.

The “succeeding by taking risks” life lesson: Each job that Earhart took was a risk. She didn’t know if she’d be good at it (or even like it!), if the money was worth it, or if she’d lose her job within weeks or months. Earhart didn’t know how long she’d stay in that position, or what it would lead to. But she took risks anyway…and it worked.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin.

Have you succeeding by taking risks? Are you afraid of risk – and yet also afraid of remaining “tight in the bud”? For help overcoming fear, read Overcoming Fear – Suze Orman and Cher.

For more info about Amelia Earhart, visit the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.

Related posts:

1. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart
2. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart
3. Christiane Amanpour – Taking Risks

The life lesson: to succeed at anything, you need to know how to motivate yourself! The successful woman in history: Amelia Earhart. The unexpected twist: even when you’re pursuing your dreams and goals, you still need to find ways to motivate yourself to keep going!

First, a word from our sponsor:

“When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others,” said Earhart.

Other people’s failures could motivate you to succeed where no woman has succeeded before – and no doubt that’s partly what spurred Earhart to achieve her goals. Here’s how to motivate yourself, with life lessons from the most famous female pilot in history…and, click on 20 Hours, 40 Min: Our Flight in the Friendship by Earhart for more info about her record-breaking flight.

How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart

Thrive on the success of others. Amelia Earhart had her own version of See Jane Soar: a scrapbook of newspaper clippings describing the achievements of successful women in law, engineering, advertising, business, and the film industry. Amelia knew how difficult it was (and is) to forge ahead, especially in male-dominated fields. Those articles improved her confidence, motivation, and passion. They represented the victories of women Amelia didn’t even know – women who nevertheless inspired her to soar.

Don’t compare yourself to others! There will always be successful women who are smarter, stronger, more confident, and even luckier than you. And, there will always be less successful women who aren’t as smart, strong, confident, or lucky as you. To motivate yourself, don’t compare yourself to anyone. You have your life to live, and other women have theirs. Read The Definition of a Successful Woman – Eleanor Roosevelt to learn what success means to different women.

Find – and push – your own buttons. If you really want to motivate yourself, pay attention to what drives you. Me, I like earning money for writing – so I’m motivated to keep writing and keep pitching articles no matter how many rejections I get. The life lesson here is that you can’t rely on others to motivate you…you have to find your own triggers, and you need to keep pulling them.

Do what comes naturally. Amelia Earhart broke records in altitude, speed, distance, and solo flying – partly because she was doing what came naturally to her. She was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and received countless other honors. Do you think she needed to find ways to motivate herself? No. She was a successful woman in history because she did what came naturally to her.

How do you motivate yourself? I welcome your comments below…

Related posts:

1. Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions – Amelia Earhart
2. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
3. How to Succeed Despite Criticism – Amelia Earhart

The “See Jane Soar” life lesson: you have to leave your comfort zone to earn money if you want to pursue your passions! The successful woman: Amelia Earhart. She was an American aviatrix – female pilot – who took risks and forced herself to do things she didn’t want to do, just to earn money to pursue her passion – her infamous flying career. 

It’s debatable what Earhart hated more: not being able to fly because she had no money, or performing like a circus pony for the public. She had to force herself to play to the crowds – but her husband, however, loved the spotlight. In Amelia Earhart: A Biography, Doris Rich writes, “If G.P. Putnam needed to bask in her limelight, she needed him to maintain that limelight.”

Here’s how Amelia Earhart earned money to pursue her passion for flying…and two life lessons you can take to the bank! And, if you’re a woman who wants to earn more money, click on Women’s Way of Earning Money by Cynthia May Westover Alden for some money making ideas.

Earning Money to Pursue Your Passions - Amelia Earhart

1. Get out of your comfort zone. Earhart reluctantly married publishing magnate George Palmer Putnam in 1931. She wrote him a letter stating that marrying him was “as foolish as anything I could do” (this, from a woman who flew alone over vast oceans through fog, rain, and darkness at 10,000 feet, inhaling gas fumes, barely eating or sleeping). After the wedding she insisted on keeping her full name – “Miss Amelia Earhart” – for business and writing purposes. To earn money for her flying “hobby”, Earhart forced herself to take action, even when it scared her. And for you to pursue your passions, dear reader, you too will need to leave your comfort zone.

2. Be prepared to work hard. Earhart feared marriage was a cage that would prevent her from working, but her concerns were groundless. She worked. A lot. Her pockets weren’t deep enough to pay for the planes, fuel, licenses, contest entry fees, flight arrangements, and navigators that her record-breaking flights demanded. So, Putnam kept Earhart jumping through never-ending, increasingly demanding hoops: speaking engagements, media interviews, professional dinners, new business ventures, press-friendly junkets, photo opportunities, and book signing tours.

Fame brought money, which gave her wings to fly. Earhart worked hard to make money so she could pursue her passions…and it gave her wings to fly. 

Are you finding it difficult to pursue your passions because you don’t have enough money? Do you have any suggestions for other women about earning money to pursue their goals? Comment below!

For more info about Amelia Earhart, go to the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.

Related posts:

1. Succeeding by Taking Risks – Amelia Earhart
2. How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart
3. How to be a Successful Woman – Amelia Earhart