Down Doesn't Have to Mean Out

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Nelson Mandela

Let this letter sink into your consciousness like lotion into your skin. Remember it when you're tempted to dwell on all of your mistakes, missteps, and shortcomings. Call it forth when you're about to compare yourself to someone else who you think has more going for themselves than you.

Don't let where you are today determine where you're going to be tomorrow. I was talking with a hero of mine, a gentleman named Willie Crawford. If you've spent significant time online in the last 10 years it's possible that you've heard his name. You may have even purchased one of his products. Willie regularly receives, on average, over $20,000 per month from his online ventures. He said that he might even make more than $100,000 this month alone! Yet, he doesn't run a major company with tons of employees. He runs his operation independently out of his home office. The guy has even written a best-selling cookbook! He is, without question, an Internet marketing "guru".

But, it wasn't always like this. He came from an impoverished family of tobacco farmers in North Carolina. In fact, most of the people that he knew were on welfare. He wasn't surrounded by positive, successful role models that he could learn from. So, how did he go from being down and disadvantaged to being a mega-successful entrepreneur? He realized that everything he had gone through in life were lessons teaching him how to prepare for greatness.

He learned - like we all should - that he is FREE. Free to decide his future. Free to live his purpose. Free to experience goodness. Free to help himself to anything he wants in life.

You have this freedom, too. But, are you going to let not finishing school keep you down? Are you going to let a failed marriage keep you down? Are you going to let bad habits hamper you and keep you from your destiny? Are you going to empower your misgivings? To put it plainly, how many times are you going to fall and stay down?

Just because you have fallen doesn't make you irredeemable. It makes you human. Falling is a part of living. It took me a long time to get to this point. But, I finally, really and truly understand that there is no shame in stumbling.

Failure is not determined by the number of mistakes we make. What matters is how we respond to our indiscretions. Don't let your faults and lapses in judgement become the defining elements in your life. The truth is that you have the final word on whether you make it or not.

In order for us to change the course of our lives we're going to need a combination of acumen, astuteness, cleverness, enterprise, get-up-and-go, industry, initiative, judgment, and resourcefulness. So embrace your humanity, love yourself, and don't give up when you fail - your success might be just around the corner.