Defeat
If there is any single factor that makes for success in living, it is the ability to profit by defeat. Every success I know has been achieved because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit by it in his next undertaking. Confuse defeat with failure, and you are doomed indeed to failure. For it isn't defeat that makes you fail: it is your own refusal to see in defeat the guide and encouragement to success.
Defeats are nothing to be ashamed of. They are routine incidents in the life of every man who achieves success. But defeat is a dead loss unless you do face it without humiliation, analyze it and learn why you failed. Defeat, in other words, can help to cure its own cause. Not only does defeat prepare us for success, but nothing can arouse within us such a compelling desire to succeed. If you let a baby grasp a rod and try to pull it away, he will cling more and more tightly until his whole weight is suspended. It is this same reaction which should give you new and greater strength every time you are defeated. If you exploit the power which defeat gives, you can accomplish with it far more than you are capable of.
挫折
生活中如果有任何一个因素可以促进成功，那就是从挫折中受益的能力。我所了解的每一次达到的成功都是因为那个人能够对挫折进行分析，在下一次工作中真正得益。如果混淆挫折和失败，你就注定会真正失败。 因为不是挫折使你失败，而是你自己拒绝从挫折中看到成功的方向和勇气。
挫折并不可耻。在每个取得成功的人的生活中，挫折是家常便饭。但你一定要能够面对挫折而不感到羞耻，能够分析它并了解失败的原因，否则挫折就是绝对的损失。换言之，挫折可以帮助解决它自身的起因。挫折不但可以为我们成功做好准备，而且没有任何东西可以在我们的内心激发起如此强烈的想要成功的欲望。如果你让一个婴儿抓住一根竿子，然后试着把竿子抽出来，孩子就会越抓越紧，直到他们整个重量都依附于此。每次你被击败的时候，正是这同样的反应会赋予你崭新的更为巨大的力量。如果你能够利用挫折带来的这种力量，你就能够用它来完成远远超乎你能力的目标。
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