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FAILURE: The Secret to Success

By: Robby Slaughter If you’re a sports fan, you might know the story of Mario Lemieux. He’s the hockey player who missed half a season due to surgery, and when…

By: Robby Slaughter

If you’re a sports fan, you might know the story of Mario Lemieux. He’s the hockey player who missed half a season due to surgery, and when he returned he was in so much pain he needed help lacing up his skates. He’s the athlete that kept playing after suffering through the trials of lymphoma. And to this day, he’s in the top tier of nearly every record in the sport.

There’s a similar story for IndyCar driver Davey Hamilton, who was dead last in the 500 back in 2010. He’s never won a race and even endured 21 surgeries after a horrible accident at the Texas Motor Speedway. Yet still, Hamilton keeps getting behind the wheel.

If you love the movies, you might take note of director James Cameron. While he was working on the script to “Terminator,” he was so broke for a period he slept in his car. The same is true for Sylvester Stallone, who crashed in a bus station for weeks before he was able to sell “Rocky.” Both men–although untested–had the audacity and vision to demand central roles in their signature films.

The same is true in practically any field. Chris Gardner, the millionaire stockbroker, lost nearly everything before finding a way to make it big. Abraham Lincoln dealt with the death of his mother, his first love, and several of his own children. What challenges are you working through to find your own way? Failure, after all, is the secret to success.

Robby Slaughter runs a business improvement consulting practice in Indianapolis. He is the author of Failure: The Secret to Success.