I clearly remember a period during which I felt like a failure. But what I eventually learned was that failing at one thing is not failing at all things. And, in fact, failure is a necessary part of growth. Life is filled with trial and error. In order to walk the path to success, you need to make some wrong turns along the way. What I learned, to use John C. Maxwell’s terminology, was to “fail forward”, to use each mistake to make myself better. One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures. Instead, they need to keep the bigger picture in mind. A successful baseball player doesn’t look at an out that he makes and think of failure. He sees it within the context of the bigger picture. His perspective leads to perseverance. His perseverance brings longevity. And his longevity gives him opportunities for success.

我清楚地记得有段时间我觉得自己就是个失败者。但我最终学到的是，在一件事情上失败并不是在所有事情上都失败。事实上，失败是成长的必要组成部分。生活充满了尝试和错误。为了走上成功之路，你需要在前进的道路上做一些错误的转弯。我所学到的是，用约翰·麦斯威尔的话说，就是“向前失败”，用每个错误让自己变得更好。人们对失败的最大问题之一是，他们过于迅速地判断自己生活中的孤立情况，并将其贴上失败的标签。相反，他们需要牢记大局。成功的棒球运动员不会把一次出局看作是失败。他是从全局的角度来看待它。他的这种观点让他能够坚持到底。坚持带来了长远。长远使他有机会成功。