“Successful people aren’t always successful their first time out. You know that of course, right? They may spend years working on their dreams with no apparent success in sight. More over they may face incredibly difficult odds and challenges. Many lose everything first.

Welcome to Part 10 of The Secret To Success And Happiness Few Know And Won’t Tell You. We continue on today. I hope you found the first  9 parts valuable. Ready, let’s go. Part 11 tomorrow.

A successful pro batter in baseball strikes out far more than gets hits. In fact the difference in averages between one paid the big, big bucks and one not isn’t that great.  If you think about it the highest scoring batter fails to connect with the ball far more often than not.

The same is true of basketball players and making baskets. The attempts far exceed scores made.They frequently miss. What sets these pro athletes apart from others, perhaps you and me? Why are they failing so often but still winning and getting paid very well?

Success Is Not Final – Failure Is Not Fatal …

One thing that makes the difference is they understand that in order to hit the target you have to try a lot. The know they will miss more than they hit and they accept that. It doesn’t prevent them from trying. They continue to press on. They keep the faith. They work it.

If they quit after their first miss, after their attempts went south, they would fail. Because they continue on they make adjustments to their behaviors and skill set, they continue to work on getting better and better. They improve. They know they must to compete.

They don’t count the times missed, they don’t focus on the ‘failures’ they record the successes. They understand swinging and missing is a large part of hitting the ball. Shooting at and missing the basket is a huge part of putting the ball in. It doesn’t stop them at all to miss.

… It Is The Courage To Continue That Counts

There is no such thing as failure. Either they did what they attempted to do or they didn’t. They don’t get bent out of shape about it. They keep their mind in check, they keep their attitude in check because they understand something most of us don’t.

Sports is a mental game. Most of winning is dependent on what goes on inside the athlete’s mind. Focus, concentration, not getting psyched out, but maybe psyching out an opponent, attention, shutting out distractions is a major part of their skills in doing.

It is the mental game that leads the physical prowess. Imagine trying to make a basket, hit a run, kick a field goal with millions watching, thousands cheering or booing, knowing the pressure is on. Are you up for that? Some people are and some aren’t?

Success In Life Comes When You Simply Refuse To Give Up

What the pro does inside their mind gives them the edge. Imagine training for four years to compete for seconds in the Olympics. You get a couple attempts, usually, and an average or best score entered in competition. Most who go to the Olympics fail to medal.

There is no such thing as failure to these dedicated people. There is only feedback. They either hit the mark or they don’t. If they don’t they examine what they need to adjust and improve to hit it the next attempt. If they miss again, they adjust for the next attempt.

Some go back after missing and dedicate another four years to improving so they can repeat the process again with the goal of medalling up next time. They commit and learn from their mistakes but they don’t throw in the towel.  Well, some may.

Have Goals So Strong Obstacles Failure Loss Act As Motivation

Those who do quit, they fail. They stopped after missing the mark. The last thing they did before quitting was to miss. Those who try again never fail. Temporarily, they may experience defeat, but only temporarily. They use it as feedback to continue to improve,

You and I face challenges and obstacles, small and large, each day. If you learn from your each of your difficulties you will continue to move forward. You gain valuable information on how to improve and move forward. With that information you can possibly succeed.

Napoleon Hill pointed out that within each adversity, each challenge, each struggle or disappointment,  there are the seeds of equivalent opportunity. You have to know to look for them or you will miss them. If you seek and you will find. Learn from difficulties.

Never Let Success Go To Your Head … 

You can learn from difficulties the same way athletes learn from their challenges. If you adopt the athlete mindset you can become a winner much more easily. You must learn to control your thoughts and feelings and to continue on no matter how daunting it seems.

With the correct attitude, and by making the proper adjustments, you can move forward toward success. With the right mind set you won’t stop at failure  but are open to begin seeing it as a stepping stone toward eventual success. All success begins in the mind.

When you look back on your life, or back on difficult times, temporary defeats and attempts to excel, you can more easily connect the dots. You see how or why you ended up as you did from the decisions you made. You can notice your part in it all.

… Never Let Failure Go To Your Heart

Your are responsible for all of it. Once you realize that all of your attempts, hit or miss, you are responsible for, the game changes. You don’t blame others, or conditions or circumstances, you seek to improve what you do so you are better the next time.

I enjoy listening to pros talk about how they won or lost a match or a game, and what they need to do to be better the next time. Listen, if you haven’t. It is all on them and what they can do to improve. Listen, pay attention, the pro mindset is what we need to win!

Never worry about making  mistakes. Mistakes are a part of it, just as misses are, as long as you learn from them. Some people try so hard to avoid making mistakes that they don’t do anything. They freeze. They are afraid they will do something wrong.

Failure Is Success In Progress

Something wrong can always be corrected. It is far better to do it and correct it and learn from it and move forward than to not progress at all because of fear. It sucks being frozen. When you are stuck you are not moving in any direction. That is what stuck means.

Enough for today. We will continue tomorrow. Hopefully, I have provided you with some important food for thought but don’t miss tomorrow. You will want to read on! Meanwhile, make it a point to examine your thinking and your experience. Look for the good.

Look for the positive. Look for what you do well that you can enhance. Realize you have an opportunity to improve and excel. You can update and upgrade. Eliminate the bugs and faulty programming and beginning living as you want to. Find those things to appreciate.

Success Is The Sum Of Small Efforts Repeated Day In And Day Out

Look into what you appreciate about you, others and the world. Bask it in. Feel the positive emotions. After all, the point of life is to feel wonderful. Logic is fine but feel delight and feel joy. Become enthused with your ability to make changes positively. Have fun and celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Take charge today and be happy!

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Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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