How To Be A Success; It Takes Failing!

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” 
― Muhammad Ali





If I could go back in time to 1996 when I was offered the chance to put a quote or personal saying underneath my high school senior pic, I would have put in big, bold, letters "MOST LIKELY TO FAIL!!!!"

Everyone would have laughed and I would have just smiled.

There are very few success stories without some type of failure. What defines "success" is for each person to decide. Broke with a loving family may be worth more than rich, but alone. I want the happy medium. In truth, I want it all.

The facts is; unless you're extremely lucky you WILL NOT be a success without failure. It is the YING to successes YANG. Most don't learn this till later on in life but;

Think about relationships. If you have a really good one right now, I hope you came to the point where you appreciate ALL the ones that failed. Each one taught you something about yourself and the other person. Whether you realize it or not, they set the standard for what you wanted or didn't want in a relationship.

If you haven't failed yet, you're either lucky, content or living a life of mediocrity. Lucky only gets you so far. Content is respectable and a great goal! mediocrity is failure in sheep's clothing,

Why? Because people who succeed do it in spite of the obstacles in their way. Success is the island surrounded by the rip tides of failure and the sharks of fear!

If you are not a strong swimmer, you'll never make it. If you have fear, the sharks will smell it and eat you alive.

Think about it, most people will tell you that you are crazy for even thinking of swimming in shark infested waters! You have to want it so bad that you will risk EVERYTHING for it; your ego, your money, your stability, your sanity and trying does NOT mean you will succeed!!!!!!!!!

But NOT STOPPING has the highest success rate compared to NOT TRYING at all!!!!

I'm telling you, that if you have a dream, rooted in reality with a hint of crazy and you have the perseverance, you can achieve whatever you set out for.

I have talked to many people that have great success stories and the one thing they all have in common is that they are PERSISTENT.

PERSIST!
RESIST!
ACHIEVE!


Persist: Never take no for an answer! When you DO (and you will) get a "no" find out why! The "why" will help you redefine the way you attack next time..

Resist the temptation to quit: You may miss the mark with one shot and that's why winners love ACCURACY BY VOLUME. With that said, know when to refine a bad idea or start all over. Remember, the first word is PERSIST!

Achieve:  Repeat the first two step to get here.


I have failed at MANY things. I learned from my mistakes and charted new courses. I am proudest that I never took the easy route. Anything that is worth anything is worth the challenge. "The juice is worth the squeeze"

To me, the most important part of failing is what you choose to take from it and how you choose to see it as a blessing; make the best out of everything!

I once told a physiologist that I "Loved my injury" (I was injured in a car bombing in Iraq where I sustained a penetrating injury to my skull and brain, leaving me with five metal fragments still deep inside my brain)

When the physiologist looked at me with shock and said "WHY!?" I replied "Because it made me the man I am today and I'm happy." I have embraced my tragedy. I didn't let it beat me. More so, I used it to my benefit. I took the bull by the horns and I ride it EVERY DAY!


David

Me and Ali at the US Embassy Jiddah. He looked into my soul and saw a fellow fighter. 

1996

2004 Iraq

2005 after the car bombing

Making lemonade from lemons

Working with Team Rubicon, a non-profit founded by two Marines whose mission is to re-purpose veterans to aid in natural disasters and thus by helping others, help themselves with issues of PTSD and detachment from the camaraderie they once shared.