The effort required to go on and try something a sixth time is no more than the first five, but people decide it's over. History has proven that the people who accomplish great things just kept going despite failure. No matter how many times they fail, they forever work at all things diligently. Most of these successful people have no special formula for success, they just keep grinding on, day after day, week after week, year after year. Many people enjoy the quality of life they have because of this type of people.

Think of Thomas Edison. It wasn't until after more than 14,000 attempts that he created the first light bulb. Most people don't make it to the fifth attempt!! Most people consider Edison a genius, but his success was in his diligence. He flat outworked everyone else! It was Colonel Sanders 1006th presentation to a bank before he received financing to launch his chicken recipe. The greatness of Sanders is that he was willing to knock on 1006 doors.

One friend I know who has many achievements to his credit and is now over seventy years old, declared that most people fall by the wayside because they simply stop starting new ideas. He makes it a plan, and has for years, to start something new at least once a week. The weeks he doesn't start something new, he restarts something that hasn't worked out like he wanted. Even in failing, he finds starting things over keeps his mind positive and forward moving. He feels that following this plan keeps his body and mind active and puts to use a lot of imaginative qualities that would otherwise go dormant.

Having a plan of starting something new and restarting something at least once a week brings me to the matter of initiative and how valuable of an asset it is in creating true happiness. If you are learning from your mistakes, the next time should have a better outcome. Each failure is making us better and more apt to succeed. And, if you are truly never giving up, but keep starting again something that's valuable to you, then it's really never a failure, but just another step toward success.

Closely linked with the matter of initiative are interest and attention. The more interest you have in something, naturally the more attention you give it and the greater the odds that you will stay after it even in the midst of failure. You will never know greatness until you commit to starting things over and over. But, you'll only have the motivation to stick with it if you're deeply interested in the project.

The month of December has been difficult for me. I lost my focus on diet and exercise and my own personal goal of creating a permanent health revolution in my life. I have been unable to make any improvements this month and I could use the excuses of a busy holiday schedule, the temptations of holiday food being everywhere, a monstrous work schedule with increasing stress, but don't we all have some excuses? Don't you think Thomas Edison had a few setbacks? In accordance with my own quote that success is a matter of never-ceasing application, I'm not quitting. Success is starting over after you fail. All great people stand back up and start over…and over. I will do the only thing that I can do, I'm starting over - can you relate?