When talent, genius, and education are not enough.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than successful men of talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipresent. - Calvin Coolidge

After witnessing the Wimbledon win of Roger Federer yesterday, I found myself questioning what it is that separates the champions from the rest. Looking beyond the world-wide accolades of people who win major tournaments, what is it that makes people the champions of their own lives? How can I become someone who strives to be the best, even if it is only the best "me"?

No amount of planning and preparation, no amount of learning and intelligence has the ability to replace what essentially is that determination that pushes people over that threshold separating failure from success.

Aspiring to greatness is something that never ends, once making the decision to follow that path.

There have been countless numbers of people who have desired the rewards of the "winners", but few as determined, as resolved, who never falter in this will. These champions never leave their determination behind, through set-backs and voices of what "cannot be".

How willing are you to be like that?

Get up!

So, I got up today and thought, "My goodness, how long has it been since entering a daily thought?" It's been over a month. And, it appears that I've been quite lax this year, too. Truly careless on my part, I admit. As an apology, I offer one of my favorite quotes. Enjoy!

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. - Mary Pickford


What if Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, George Washington, George Lucas, and innumerable others had given up after a single defeat? What would the world look like right now?

Of these names, I have to admit, the one that scares me the most is George Lucas. Forget about the light bulb, the Theory of Relativity, the American Revolution. But no Star Wars? Good God, what a world!

Humor aside, it was my introduction to this ambitious film series as a small child that inspired the greatest creativity in myself. And so, on a personal level, to think of Mr. Lucas giving up after a few lines of script because it wasn't going the way he wanted, or after hearing "no" before "yes", or sitting behind a camera in a desert in Morocco and thinking, "This is just too hard" is almost too much.

The truth is, when you give up on your ambitions, your dreams, your aspirations, it doesn't just affect you and your experience. It affects your family and friends, and sometimes, a much larger community. Sometimes, your failure is a loss for the world.

And if you think about it, a comparison can show you that nothing is ever really "too hard". No loss is ever too awful to get up from.

Seeds sown.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson

The fact that we are given a chance to renew our efforts, in whatever direction, each and every morning is possibly one of the greatest blessings of being human. For some, this will mean starting over all the time, but is it really starting over? The intentions that you have, with each little effort, grow and grow. How lovely your garden will be with the right amount of time.

Great things are not accomplished overnight. Rather, they require the ability to keep moving in a certain direction, or sometimes are the result of trial and error. Either way, as long as you plant your seeds every single day, you will find in time that you are moving closer and closer to the rewards of your deeds.

As we edge ever closer to a new year, with new promises and goals, remember that this as much a way of making a new start as any, as well as a time to reflect on the year 2008, it's mistakes and rewards alike. How blessed we are for these new starts. And how blessed we are to be able to plant new seeds of which the abundant harvest will be reaped.

Success in Failure in Success...

A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed--I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself. - Georges Clemenceau

You know, there really isn't a chance of success, of great things, without risk. Risk, whether fortunately or unfortunately, walks hand-in-hand with the possibility of failure. And while this is frightening enough for many people to not attempt greatness, the ideas that can be taught from failure are just as important as the successes.

Consider Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and others. If it weren't for embracing failure, accepting all possibilities, they could not become who they did become.

What if no one stepped outside of the box of conventional thinking, what if Houdini never attempted escape, if George Eastman had never acted on his vision, if Martin Luther King had never had his "Dream"? Would another have come along to fill these voids? There is no guarantee of that. And what would history have said in that place? One dares imagine.

It is in attempting a greatness beyond yourself that you prove who you truly are. And while the failures that occur in those attempts will be very real, they only keep you down if you choose to let them. There is just as much character to build in the failing as the succeeding. And of course, the successes that follow failures are more true, more heart-felt. And they are always a step down that unpaved path that others will follow.