One of the greatest challenges facing our ever intensive quest for the impossible dream is to make it across the finish line even if it's only by the skin of our teeth. Many outstanding accomplishments have been started just to see our vision die one foot short of the goal line. Sound familiar? Don't get your knickers in a twist; here's an idea.

Cry Me A River!

Have you ever experienced this? Maybe a dream or desire that you have had your heart set on suddenly drops square in the lap of some bozo that couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag. Suddenly, your dream is now the property of someone else and all the nice things you used to think about that person now just took a hike.

Did you know one of the best tests of our character is when we face the fiery furnace of failure? Especially when that furnace burns up our dream just inches before we take it to the bank.

Many pursuits, that we chase, seem to stop dead in their tracks almost at the very beginning. That's probably a blessing in disguise. If every thing we pursued, or most every thing, all came unraveled at the very end, we probably would go nuts.

Just getting that close to the prize creates such anticipation, that if almost all of them flopped, we would probably stop trying just to avoid the emotional trauma. But, life is kind to us to prevent us from putting forth that much effort, consistently, and then see our dream land in the lap of someone else.

Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth!

Now, you see, you thought life was mean to you. But, the other way of looking at it is; it spared us from getting to the one foot line and then blowing up in our face.

I am not a huge baseball fan but I heard the story of Babe Ruth and the great success he had in his career. It was a super accomplishment to have hit over seven hundred home runs in his life in the major leagues. But, he also struck out over fourteen hundred times.

There was a particular game that Babe struck out every time he got up to the plate, except the last time. And, in this game every time he got up he swung at the ball so hard that he fell in the dirt. A newspaper reporter told Babe he should not swing so hard. Babe said, "Ah, don't pity me, pity those poor pitchers".

Some Good News And, Some Bad News!

As I thought about my life in business I think that's about the ratio that holds true; Two failures for every success. Some successes were gigantic, some were mediocre, and some were heart breaking. Of course the heart breaking ones are the big failures.

Some failures are labeled failures too quickly. Many times I have seen something wonderful happen long after I had destined some dream to the garbage dump. Then something happened that resurrected that puppy and seemed to breathe life back into it.