The last time you failed at something, did you stop trying because you failed, or did you fail because you stopped trying?
Ty Cobb was one of baseball's greatest players. His record for stealing 96 bases in one season stood for years.
Have you ever heard of a baseball player named Max Carey? Probably not.
Like Cobb, Carey was a talented baseball player. One season he attempted 53 stolen bases and succeeded 51 times. That's a success rate of 96 percent.
The year Cobb set the record with 96 steals, he tried 134 times. That's a success rate of only 71 percent.
My point here is that Ty Cobb was willing to chance failure, and because of it, became legendary in baseball. Max Carey, who played it safe, isn't remembered.
All of us are going to make mistakes and fail from time to time. But if we succeed often enough, people will forget the times we failed.
Continuous effort-not strength or intelligence-is the key to unlocking our potential.
Nothing in the world can take the place of determination and persistence. The thing to try when all else fails, is try again.
