Failure=Success
Lately I have been thinking a lot about success. I have been asking myself such questions as: What makes a person successful? Why does a certain person succeed while another fails? Does success come after failure?
I am not merely talking about monetary success. I am talking about all types of success, physical, spiritual, monetary, familial, etc.
After pondering these types of questions I was struck by one thing: The distance between success and failure is razor thin. Think about it...
The successful person succeeds because he has persevered more than the person who has failed. The successful person succeeds because he has stuck it out one more time then the person who has failed. Success has nothing to do with talent or ability. It has everything to do with perseverance, trudging on, feet planted, until meeting a goal.
Think about it biblically:
One of my favorite characters in the bible is St. Peter. By all accounts he was an abysmal disciple. He was impetuous, thick headed, and he even betrayed Jesus. But did St. Peter give up? No. He persevered. He persevered and became a great saint.
Abraham Lincoln persevered through losing battle after battle in the civil war until he finally reunited a nation.
George Washington persevered for years with a rag tag starving army until he won the revolutionary war.
Jackie Robinson persevered through years of racism until he finally was able to usher in a greater equality in sports.
I believe that as a society we have become success adverse. We want to always win but never lose. The irony of this all is that the person who loses is usually the one who succeeds in the end. Remember: The distance between success and failure is razor thin.
I would like to end with one of my favorite quotes from Theodore Roosevelt:
I am not merely talking about monetary success. I am talking about all types of success, physical, spiritual, monetary, familial, etc.
After pondering these types of questions I was struck by one thing: The distance between success and failure is razor thin. Think about it...
The successful person succeeds because he has persevered more than the person who has failed. The successful person succeeds because he has stuck it out one more time then the person who has failed. Success has nothing to do with talent or ability. It has everything to do with perseverance, trudging on, feet planted, until meeting a goal.
Think about it biblically:
One of my favorite characters in the bible is St. Peter. By all accounts he was an abysmal disciple. He was impetuous, thick headed, and he even betrayed Jesus. But did St. Peter give up? No. He persevered. He persevered and became a great saint.
Abraham Lincoln persevered through losing battle after battle in the civil war until he finally reunited a nation.
George Washington persevered for years with a rag tag starving army until he won the revolutionary war.
Jackie Robinson persevered through years of racism until he finally was able to usher in a greater equality in sports.
I believe that as a society we have become success adverse. We want to always win but never lose. The irony of this all is that the person who loses is usually the one who succeeds in the end. Remember: The distance between success and failure is razor thin.
I would like to end with one of my favorite quotes from Theodore Roosevelt:
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
Comments
Post a Comment