Turn Failures Into Achievements

Is it even possible?  Can you really turn failure into achievement?  What is it that makes the difference? Why are there some who seem to accomplish so much with their lives? Is it...

Family Background - Having a good family growing up is something to be grateful for, but it's not the reliable indicator of accomplishment. High percentages of great men have come from broken homes.

Wealth - Some of the greatest men of accomplishment have come from households of average to below-average means. Wealth is not an accurate indicator of high achievement, and poverty is no guarantee of low achievement.

Opportunity - Opportunity is a very peculiar thing. Two people with the similar gifts, talents, and resources can look at a situation, and one person will see tremendous opportunity while the other sees nothing. Opportunity is in the eye of the beholder.

The Success Test

"But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today" (Deut. 8:18).

Muhammad Ali is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. He won 56 of his 61 professional fights and knocked out 37 opponents. His most famous catchphrase was, "I am the greatest!"

One day, Ali was seated in an airplane when the flight attendant came up the aisle to make sure that all the passengers had their seatbelts fastened. Reaching Ali's seat, she asked him to buckle up.

"Hmph!" the champ sneered. "Superman don't need no seatbelt!"

How to Be Successful and Satisfied

Written by Rusty Wright

Success is:______. How would you fill in the blank?

“That’s easy,” you might say. “Success is … for an athlete, winning the Super Bowl, the World Series, or a gold medal: for an entertainer, winning an Oscar, a Grammy, or an Emmy; for a businessperson, being a top executive with one of the Fortune 500 companies: for a university student, being elected to Phi Beta Kappa or student government.” But is it always so easy to define?

Several years ago Ranier, a German friend, spent three months with me in the U. S. Once, while he was watching his first baseball game on TV, the batter hit the ball out of the park for a home run. The fans went wild! Ranier turned to me with a puzzled look and asked, “Why are they cheering? They’ve lost the ball?” To the hometown fans the batter was a great success. To someone from another culture, the home run was a mystery.