The Morning Ascent

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker.

Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street. A winner is big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them and strong enough to correct them. The only difference between the unsuccessful man and the successful man is that the unsuccessful man is mistaken three times out of five.

Perhaps your personal problems and hang-ups cause the failure. If so, begin to work immediately on self-discipline. If you are the problem, put yourself under control. Lord Nelson, England’s famous naval hero, suffered from seasickness throughout his entire life. Yet the man who had destroyed Napoleon’s fleet did not let illness interfere with his career. He not only learned to live with his personal weakness, but he also conquered it. Most of us have our own little seasickness, too. For some it may be physical, for others psychological. Usually, it is a private war carried on quietly within us. No one will pin a medal on us for winning it, but nothing can dim the satisfaction of knowing that we did not surrender.

It takes five positive experiences to overcome one negative situation. When faced with the possibility of failure, our tendency is to sit back and be anxious. Fear is nature’s warning signal to get busy. We overcome it by successful action.

You cannot control all circumstances. You cannot always make right decisions which bring right results. But you can always learn from your mistakes.

Make today your day to shine!