This is something that I’ve talked about before, but it’s just as important today as it was back then. The long quest for success, no matter how you define it, will be met with obstacles upon obstacles. Whether or not you will ultimately succeed and attain the goals that you’ve set for yourself largely depends upon how you deal with these obstacles and handle difficult situations.

A couple of years ago I was shown an equation which I think speaks volumes. It’s possible that I liked the equation since I’m an engineer and all engineers love equations, but the information conveyed is definitely for everybody.

Persistence + Failure = Success

All of the successful people that I’ve talked with have told me that failure is part of the journey. And it’s not just one or two failures either. There will be failure after failure all along the journey. Success only comes to those who choose to be persistent through those failures and are willing to keep trying again and again. Even with what may be my limited success I’ve experienced failures along the way. They haven’t caused me to give up yet and hopefully I never will.

In order to be able to work through some of the difficult times though, you’ve got to be able to maintain a positive attitude. It’s incredibly easy to let negativity creep in to your life, especially as you encounter obstacles. And if it weren’t enough for negative thoughts to naturally enter your life, you’ll surely encounter plenty of naysayers along the way. To some of your ideas you’ll hear things like, “that’s not possible”, “you can’t do that”, or “why would you try something like that”.

In the midst of negativity, you’ve got to be able to ignore the negative, focus on the positive, and succeed like only you know you can.

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