Winston Churchill defining success: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” One of my favorite athletes is the Swiss tennis player Stan Wawrinka. He has, in my opinion, one of the best one-handed backhands of all time.  It’s so powerful and beautifully done. However, the other thing I admire about him is his attitude. He’s been a top player but never dominated like the Big Three (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic). So, how did he deal with the losses? Here’s the tattoo he put on his forearm:

It reads: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.”

We are all familiar with failure. It’s just part of life. The question is how do we deal with it? These two individuals offer exemplary models. Failures test us. They may shake our confidence. It can be tempting to lose hope. But there is no upside to that.  It takes courage to try again. And fail again. It takes faith in the face of doubt to keep trying. But isn’t that what really matters? Isn’t success as Churchill defined it?