encouragement from a former addict

No, the former addict isn't me. I'm a huge fan of Craig Ferguson. He's the host of The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, on CBS. If you're not familiar with him, I'll give you a quick background. He's originally from Glasgow, Scotland but now lives in California, USA and has become an American citizen. He dropped out of high school at age 16 and became addicted to drugs and alcohol, all the while hopping from punk band to punk band, repeatedly falling short of success. He went through rehab, stayed clean and got his big break on the Drew Carey Show.

He battled his demons and seems to have evolved into one of the wisest and most down-to-earth personalities in show-biz today.

I've been reading his autobiography 'American On Purpose,' which is a great read with brilliant story telling. I had only made it as far as the preface when I realized how good his book was going to be. In the preface he wrote, "we prepare for glory by failing until we don't."

My stomach did a flip when I read it and I knew that this statement would be added to the mental Rolodex of phrases I keep to inspire myself when I'm feeling daunted.

Through his failed marriages, his addictions, his numerous attempts to break into show business, he continued to fail until one day he didn't. That's the secret!

The people who become truly and uniquely successful aren't the people who learn how to succeed, they're the people who learn how to fail and start over. They are the sort of people who fall and get back up, dust themselves off, and prepare to fall again. They fail until they don't.

People say things like this all the time. I've heard things like this before and shrugged it off and you may shrug this off today. Realistically, no one really 'gets it' until they're ready. You need to reach that place in life where you're prepared to make a mess of things and try again, without fear of looking foolish, because you finally know that there is no other option for you but to try until you succeed.

It applies to anything worth achieving, whether it's a battle with weight, or addiction, or the drive to succeed academically, athletically, in your career, or in love. If you persevere you have an infinitely better chance of success than you have if you give up.

Long story short, it's OK to fail as long as you keep trying, as long as you keep failing until you don't. Have a great day everybody!