This is another excerpt from my latest book, Simple Realities (The pathway to happiness and success), which is now available at Amazon.com and on Kindle.
I remember almost none of the British history I studied in grade school, a mandatory subject back then—perhaps it still is, but I doubt it. However, one story still remains vivid in my mind. It is about the Scottish patriot, Robert the Bruce, lying in his bunk, thinking he had failed miserably after a number of futile attempts to defeat his hated enemy. The story goes that he watching a spider trying to attach a web across a difficult corner. The spider tried six times without success, then on the seventh try the web was successfully attached, inspiring Robert to try one more time. He did. He won.
The only time you really fail is the last time you try.
Most people don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.
If you’re made of the right stuff, a hard fall results in a high bounce.
Just as we rarely succeed alone, we rarely fail alone.
When you do something on a regular basis, occasional failures are a certainty.
Failure is never fatal and success is never final.
Falling down is not failure; but staying down is.
Occasional failure is the price of improvement.
Two types of failures are people who thought and never did, and people who did and never thought.
Don’t let short-term failures spoil long-term goals.
A set-back while doing something right is not a failure.
It isn’t a failure if you learn from it.
If you always try, you will sometimes fail.
You might be disappointed if you fail, but you’re doomed if you don’t at least try.
You start to become a failure when you start to blame others.