Business and life are full of success and failure. I don’t know of a person that only knows success without also knowing failure. Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Milton Hershey, H.J. Heinz and Abraham Lincoln all had one thing in common. They all filed bankruptcy before going on to great success.

I heard a quote the other day that I wrote down. The quote was “failure is the fog from which we all glimpse triumph.” I have thought about that quote for several weeks and think there might be some truth to it. See, if you only have success you will not be forced to improve, change or better yourself. It is usually a failure (hopefully a small one) that forces us to look deeply at what we are doing and how we are doing it. It also forces us to ask, how can I improve on what I do?

I like the word fog in the quote because when you get turned down for job, lose an account, don’t get selected for a promotion, etc. you find yourself in a little haze (fog) that you must focus to see your way through. Yesterday, we lost a little piece of business that I thought we had a good shot of getting and I had to stop and remind myself that no one wins every time. I also had to remind myself that sometimes not getting what you thought you wanted, can many times be a good thing. Today, I have some clients that are enjoyable to work with and then I have other clients that just are too demanding to really enjoy.

This morning and got up and started thinking about the little deal we lost out on yesterday and I stopped and said to myself, wait a second, look at how blessed me and my family are! After that I was ready for the next opportunity instead of dwelling on the one I lost. As with every fog, it is usually short on duration and then the light comes through and you see a whole new day stretched out before you. Life is a gift so don’t waste one day rehashing old disappointments. Cowboy up and get back on your horse. KT