Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it. – Josephus Daniels
. . . when you give up.
When you stop learning and trying.
When you decide that (the illusion of) safety and stagnation is better than intelligent risks and action.
Losing is not defeat.
“Failure” is not defeat.
Not-getting-what-you-want is not defeat.
Just keep going.
Learn from what happens.
That’s how you win regardless of the “score.”
Are you disaster-tolerant? (Do you have reserves?) This question is well-posed in Seth Godin’s blog post (here it is in its entirety): Not all disasters can be avoided. Not all disasters are fatal. If you accept these two truths, your approach to risk will change. If you build a disaster-tolerant nation or project or lifestyle,…
While watching Carol Leifer on the Tavis Smiley Show talk about how she kept trying, and trying, and trying to get on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson I had a realization. Tavis was asking how do you keep going when you keep getting rejected (it took her 22 auditions to finally get booked)? Carol…
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. – Albert Einstein Success is an abstract, relative term. It’s a made-up thing, it doesn’t actually exist anywhere, like “time.” (You can show me a clock, but you can’t show me time . . . .) And it…
The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose. – John McEnroe Always make sure you learn.* Otherwise, what’s losing for? ***** * And make sure you learn when you win too!
“One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.” – Earl Nightingale Interestingly, I think Earl wrote this before Malcolm…
“I was taught to strive not because there were any guarantees of success, but because the act of striving is in itself the only way to keep faith with life.” – Madeleine Albright I believe it was Einstein who said: there are two ways to live, as if everything is a miracle and as if…