It is not those amongst us who achieve “perfection” that we must admire most. After all, perfection is just an illusion.
Converse to striving for perfection, I know the most valuable experiences of my life are what I’ve gained from failing or falling down. The experience of failure, for me, is painful. I don’t forget failure quickly or easily. Therefore, the lessons I learn through failure have stayed with me. They have become the cornerstones for some of the greatest successes in my life.
To be a true champion, we need not be “perfect.” Instead, we must be graceful and grateful as we fail… no matter home many times you come up short, keep pushing ahead, never quitting.
Each time I make a mistake or fail, I feel that I have the opportunity to realize the lessons taught. And those lessons show me how to achieve my goals, accomplish the outcomes I seek and reach my ultimate victory.
So, my message is simple…..
Do not fear the things that push you down, knock you off your feet or defeat you.
Do not let yourself be victimized by defeat.
No! Use defeat as your catalyst to rise up.
When you do… you will become stronger and wiser.
And you will see through the frustration to the path of your desired outcomes.
Today, I share a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the main who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming;
But who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who, at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement,
and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
Again, do not let defeat get you down. Instead, I encourage you all to relish in those defeats, as those defeats teach us valuable lessons.
Our failures make us who we are now and what we will be tomorrow.