Zen Garden > The Benefit of Having a Goal Worth Failing For

Having a dream or a goal worth failing for is a sure reason for not quitting.

Milt Campbell was an Olympic athlete. In 1952, in Helsinki, Finland he won a silver medal in the decathlon, a grueling series of events. But a silver medal was still one place short of where Milt wanted to be.

In 1956, Milt Campbell came to Melbourne, Australia. For four long years he was the reigning silver medallist - second best in the world. But he wanted to be the best. History tells that he achieved just that. In Melbourne, Milt won the gold medal. Here is a fantastic revelation that he made:

"Many of the athletes against whom I competed in high school were far superior to me, but they quit."

How powerful is that statement given the knowledge that you now have about this amazing man? What does it tell you?

Others have displayed similar persistence in the pursuit of their dreams. Colonel Harland Sanders was rejected by hundreds of restaurant owners before he came up with the concept of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Thomas Edison said he didn't fail 10,000 times to produce an electric light globe. He said he had merely found 10,000 ways not to make one.

If you know what you want and that goal is so powerful to you then there is a simple formula for success - don't quit. Winners never quit and quitters never win. In the words of the immortal Winston Churchill: "Never, never, never, never give up."

Are you prepared never to quit, never to give up and never to surrender in the pursuit of your life goal? Let me tell you - I am not. Allow me a few paragraphs now to tell you a little bit about one of my own experiences.

All my life I have wanted to write. It has been a constant theme right through everything else I have ever done. I am a compulsive writer. I have written so many magazine articles, a dozen books, hundreds of Editorial Letters and countless short stories.

One of my short stories "The Power of Choice" is now in e-book format. This story has been sent from my various websites to thousands of people in dozens and dozens of countries all over the world. It has received remarkable accolades from so many people from as far as the UK to Iceland to Canada to the USA. I have pages and pages of emails from people telling me how the story affected them in such a positive manner.

Many have credited my fifteen-minute story with turning their lives around. When I receive these comments it is very humbling for me to know that something I have penned has so deeply affected the way other people view their lives from that point on.

Why am I telling you this? To pat myself on the back? To "big note" myself? No. None of that. I'm sharing this with you here to let you know that I have intimate personal experience with the subject I am writing about. You see, I could so easily have thrown my story into a drawer for it never to be shared with anyone. But I didn't. I believed in it. I persisted with it. Boy oh boy, did I persist with it!

Before making Power of Choice available directly from my website I originally wanted it to be published traditionally - paper and ink. So many times I would eagerly await an envelope from a prospective publisher only to be confronted with one rejection slip after another. Heh... I could wallpaper a room with them all.

I could have quit dozens of times over. But I didn't. Now, instead, I receive weekly emails full of compliments. Do you think that I am still concerned about all those rejection slips? Nah! Now, I wear them like a badge of honor. I have had the last say. I have triumphed.

Now that I have given you several examples, including one of my own, my thoughts turn to you. Your goal must be pursued with relentlessness. Are you willing to keep on failing your way to success? I hope so - because that is what it takes.

What goal is so big and so important in your life that you are prepared to fail over and over again in your pursuit of it? Let me tell you - when you find such a goal nothing will stop you from succeeding. Nothing! You can do it. Milt Campbell did it. Colonel Sanders did it. Thomas Edison did it. Tens of thousands of others have done it. I have done it. And if I can do it then so can you!

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Gary Simpson is a 7th Dan karate master who teaches self defense, motivation, self help and wealth building to students around the world through home study courses. You may reprint this article as you include this author credit and an active link to his web site. Finance - Self Help - Motivation - Self Defense - Personal Growth MotivationSelfEsteem.com