Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose … the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting-point for future power and triumph.
This one is powerful because Allen is changing the way we normally define success and failure.
Usually, we judge success by whether we accomplished the goal. Did you lose the weight? Did you finish the program? Did you get the promotion? Did the business succeed? Did you reach the number you were aiming for? If the answer is no, it can be easy to label the entire experience a failure.
But what if you didn’t accomplish the goal—and still became stronger because you tried?
Maybe you attempted to lose 30 pounds and only lost 10. You didn’t reach your original goal, but along the way you learned how to exercise consistently. You started cooking more meals at home. You learned more about nutrition. You became more disciplined. You discovered what causes you to fall off track and, more importantly, how to get yourself moving again.
You may not have reached the destination, but you are no longer the same person who started the journey.
That matters.
Failure can teach us things that success sometimes cannot. It can expose our weaknesses, challenge our patience, and force us to decide how badly we really want something. When we learn from those experiences instead of allowing them to defeat us, we develop character.
And that character becomes part of what we bring into our next attempt.
This is why starting over doesn’t always mean starting from zero. You may be returning to the same goal, but now you have experience that you didn’t have before. You know more about yourself. You know more about the process. You may even understand why the first attempt didn’t work.
So, if you fail, don’t automatically throw away everything that came from the experience.
Take what you learned with you.
Sometimes the goal isn’t the only measure of your success. Sometimes the person you became while pursuing it is preparing you to accomplish what you couldn’t accomplish before.