Every great athlete, business person, or great individual had to stretch and reach for his or her goals. They know that obstacles are a part of the goal achievement process and so they focus on succeeding rather than on what may be keeping them from succeeding. It means overcoming hardships and setbacks, rather than giving up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune. To do this you have got to be willing to take some calculated risks and be prepared to fall down from time to time.
 
As kids we made mistakes all the time, that's how we learnt. However, as adults we have a thing called "pride" and we hate making mistakes. Think of when you first learned to ride a bike - you fell down, you got up, you fell down, you got up, and you kept getting up until you mastered it. You didn't give up. If one way didn't work you tried another way until you finally got the hang of it.
 
The only way you can lose is to stop trying. Every time you have a go, you learn new ways to do things. For example, when I first started to use a computer I was terrified I would press the wrong keys or click the mouse in the wrong place. By comparison my young niece would click on anything. Yes, she did get into problems from time to time, but she was learning from her mistakes. The thought of failure didn't seem to worry her and in no time she became very proficient on the computer. I got there too, but by the slower route.
 
The lesson for me; was that each attempt was not a failure, but simply another step forward... a learning experience leading to my ultimate success.
 

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© Noel Peebles - author of "Sell Your Business The Easy Way"