From the book, “A Better Way to Live
One of the most misunderstood great truths from the past has echoed down the centuries, and yet only the wise heed its advice. If you want to succeed, you must learn to live with failure. We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. Show me the person who has never stumbled, never messed up a job, never made a mistake, and I’ll show you a person with a very dim future.
A Better Way to Live – Rule #3
“Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.”
Mistakes, blunders, defeats, are unavoidable in this rough-and-ready life, but if we let them make us gun-shy, so that once we get knocked down we hesitate to try again, we’re condemning ourselves to a life of regret. The very best lessons we will ever learn are from our mistakes and failures.
Defeat. What is it? Nothing but a little education, nothing but the first step to something better. The only people who never fail are those who never, never try.
Mark Twain once told the story of a cat who one day jumped up on a hot stove and burned his tummy. That cat never jumped up on a cold stove, either! Very often, the value of experience is overrated…and it can even be harmful if it prevents you from trying again once you’ve been bruised. There is a wonderful old Scandinavian saying, “The north wind made the Vikings.” The north wind can do wonders for you, also.
Remember that even the most successful lives contain chapters of failure, just as any good novel does, but how the book ends depends on us. We are the authors of our years, and our failures and defeats are only steps to something better. Back in 1974, when Hand Aaron was approaching Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record, I phoned his ball club, the Atlanta Braves, one morning. I was finally put through to their public-relations department, and posed my question: “I know that Hand has seven-hundred-ten home runs and needs only five more to break Ruth’s record, but I was wondering – how many lifetime strikeouts does he have?”
“Strikeouts, sir?” the young man on the line asked hesitantly.
“Yes, how many strikeouts?”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to put you on hold while I check that one, sir.”
He did, and it was several minutes before he came back on the line, “Mr. Mandino, as of last night, Hank has seven-hundred-ten home runs, and as you know, he needs only five more to break Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record…”
“Yes, I know…”
“…and…lifetime, he has twelve-hundred sixty-two strikeouts.”
I thanked him, hung up, and then sat there pondering the figure I had just heard. What a great example to use in the future whenever I was trying to make the point about never letting past failures prevent you from trying again. Here was the greatest home-run hitter who has ever lived…and even he, even Hank Aaron, had to strike out almost twice for every time hehit one out of the park! Yes, life is a game, with rules that must be followed in order to triumph, but you don’t have to hit a home run every time you come to bat in order to be a success in this world. Ask Hank.
A Better Way to Live – Rule #3
“Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.”
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“A Better Way to Live” by
Og Mandino, by clicking
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Remember, YOU have the CHOICE to make it a GREAT day!
Evan Scoresby
Skype: evanscoresby
Email: evan@evanscoresby.com
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