"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want the most for what you want now."  *-- Zig Ziglar

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.  The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it.  You are overcome by the fact because you think you are."  *-- Norman Vincent Peale

"When I was young, I observed that nine out of 10 things I did were failures, so I did 10 times more work."  *-- George Bernard Shaw

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Answer this question: How much time do you spend everyday beating yourself up over the fact that, when you first tried to walk, it took you (according to child development experts) over 220 tries to get it right? Well, if you're like most people, the answer is... zero. You don't think about it all! Now why is that? How come you have no feelings of inferiority over something that you literally sucked at for months on end until you finally got it right?

There are two reasons:

1) Those first stuttering, stumbling "fear-filled" steps took place before you were too young to remember - you were probably less than a year old, and... 
2) You finally got it right! You stayed with it, which turned all those "failures" into eventual success!

To prove the point, think about how different things would be if you had quit, and you found yourself where you are today - at your current age - unable to walk. Do you think you might feel just a little stupid? Just a bit inferior to everyone else around you?

Now, rather than simply brushing this off as just another cute "positive mental attitude" thing, let's just let the truth of this "hang in the air" for a moment without rushing off to something else, because the ramifications of this are huge. We have all had failures in our lives. Not making the team. Being passed over for the big promotion. Not getting the guy or girl. Starting a business that went down the tubes. And every one of these "failures" chips away at how we perceive ourselves, right?

The answer is... yes and no. It's a 'yes' for some people - the ones who anguish over it repeatedly (see item #1 above) and quit before getting it right (see #2 above).

When Failure Doesn't Mean You Are a Failure

And it's a 'no' for those who do the opposite - those who don't relive the failure over and over again and who push forward until they finally turn failure into success, turning the "negative" experience into one of the most rewarding 'wins' of their lives. You see, it is NOT the failure that ultimately harms us. It is the way you have decided to interpret it. Some people see failure as a stepping stone on the path to success (in our example, walking) while others see it as a roadblock. And some people find amazing joy in sticking with it and finally getting it right, while others sit on the carpet of life and watch with tears in their eyes as others hurry past.

So what is the truth about you? The truth about you is whatever you decide it is. It's whatever you let in your head and mentally linger over. And it's whatever you allow the ultimate outcome of any endeavor to be.

In the end, it all comes down to what you choose to remember... and whether you quit before reaching success (see #1 and #2 above again if necessary).

And one other thing about the truth... What other people think about you is irrelevant. It doesn't matter. In fact, the only thing that ever really matters is what you think... something you have absolute, 100%, total control over. So... How much time do you spend every day thinking about what other people think about you? Or what friends, family members and/or co-workers might think if you try something new and then fail to achieve it? Here's the truth... every minute you spend thinking about what other people think is a minute wasted... a minute stolen from your life. And what's worse, the thief is... you.

Oh, one last 'truth' here: All the people you're worried about and what they're thinking about you... you know what? They aren't thinking about you anywhere near as much as you think. You know what they're thinking about? They're thinking about what you think about them!  If you Think you have Failed think of Abraham Lincoln.

Why not make the decision, right now, to... 
• Become someone who thinks more about your successes and dwells less on your 'failures' 
• Become someone who sticks-with-it-for-as-long-as-it-takes... until success appears and washes the sting of those failures away

Because if you do, you will experience something only a select few individuals ever get the chance to enjoy if you learn to turn failure into success.

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