There is no failure except in no longer trying...

"In one of the decisive battles of World War I, disastrous reports poured into the headquarters of Marshal Foch, the commander of the Allied forces. The great general never lost heart. When things were at their worst, he drafted his famous order which is now in all textbooks of military strategy: "My center is giving way, my right is pushed back, my left is wavering. The situation is excellent. I shall attack!" – James Keller

Whether it is in business, love, or even life. There is no failure except in no longer trying.  As great works are accomplished, not by strength, but by perseverance.  History tells us that almost all great leaders have been pushed to some point of insanity.  This insanity accompanies the ideology that death, and the anxiety we call fear, are no longer an option.  It is at this brink that man realizes the simple fact that it is all or nothing.   In military strategy, while cornered and under heavy attack, there is only one option…..TO FIGHT!

"You might as well stand and fight because if you run,  you will only die tired" - Vern Jocque - Sei Shin Kan.

Through the years I have personally been under intense forms of duress.  From matters of the heart to business ventures, the variable we call life…constantly pays its dividends.  For wisdom is not an admirable trait that is given, it is a pint of sweat that is earned via the tortures from the Gods of success. 

As the bible states in Proverbs 24:16  “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.”   Hence, history has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encounter heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

In a book written in 1960, by Eleanor Roosevelt, titled “You Learn By Living” , she states the following on courage;

The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before. If you can live through that you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, `I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' The anger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

In conclusion, through the days I have the pleasure to speak to several friends, family members, clients, and colleagues whom all face the constant dogma we call stress.  As this anxiety compounds into all of our daily agendas, we must learn to harness its energy and reflect it towards a more productive state.  Furthermore, “In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins-not trough strength but by perseverance.”-Jackson Brown