"If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure 
rate." --Thomas Watson, Sr. Founder of IBM

Before the Breakfast of Champions - there was the Breakfast of 
Failures:

* C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) had over 800 rejections 
  before he sold even one piece of writing.

* Oprah Winfrey was not deterred when she got fired from her 
  television reporter's job being told, "You're not fit for TV."

* Og Mandino (The Greatest Salesman in the World) had lost his 
  family to drink and became a homeless person before becoming 
  an inspirational bestselling author selling over 30 million 
  books.

* Marie Curie, recipient of two Nobel Prizes once said, "I 
  tried out various experiments...and the results were sometimes 
  unexpected. At times I would be encouraged by a little 
  unhoped-for success, at others I would be in the deepest 
  despair because of accidents and failures resulting from my 
  inexperience...I was taught that the way of progress is 
  neither swift nor easy."

* Bill Gates and Michael Dell were college drop-outs.

* Babe Ruth had more strike-outs then any other baseball player 
  of his time. He also had the most home runs.

* Ann Bancroft, the first woman to travel across the ice to the 
  North Pole, reminisced later about not reaching a goal to 
  cover 2,300 miles across Antarctica (bad weather forced them 
  to be airlifted off) on an expedition with her sister: "Once 
  again this [expedition] is another successful failure."

* After auditioning for his band, musician Eddie Bond told a 
  young Elvis Presley to "Stick to driving a truck, because 
  you'll never make it as a singer."

* Abe Lincoln lost his job and his sweetheart, failed miserably 
  in business, was defeated for state legislature, had a nervous 
  breakdown, was defeated for nomination for congress, lost the 
  renomination, was defeated for US Senate, defeated for 
  nomination of Vice President, and again defeated for US Senate, 
  before being elected as the sixteenth President of the United 
  States.

Forget about living a 'comfortable' life. I'm not interested in 
the items you've crossed off your to-do list today. I want to 
know: have you failed - I mean really FAILED lately?  

Sharif Khan (http://www.herosoul.com; sharif@herosoul.com) 
is a professional freelance copywriter, motivational speaker, 
and coach. He is author of, Psychology of the Hero Soul, an 
inspirational book on awakening the hero within and developing 
people's leadership potential. In addition to his business 
writing services, Khan provides inspirational keynotes and 
leadership seminars to help people live heroically. To order a 
copy of his inspirational leadership bestseller, Psychology of 
the Hero Soul, visit: 
http://www.inspirationalbookonleadershipdevelopment.com