There is an old saying that goes, It is impossible to succeed without suffering. Failure becomes the final test of persistence. He who has never failed has never succeeded.

Success of any kind is like a universal college degree. It can be earned only by following a certain course that exposes the achiever to life’s adversities. It is impossible for success to be easy. Success is difficult; it’s gut-wrenching, pain-inducing. It’s built upon inconvenience. Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Success seems to follow a kind of natural selection process. Only those individuals who are willing to rally again after their failures, those who refuse to let defeat keep them down, those who seem to know that success can be theirs if they just stay with it long enough, finally with he fruits of life.

After failing many times in her bid for political office, former congresswoman Shirley Chrisholm gave a clue to her secret of success: “The thing to try when all else fails is admit that just as they felt they were finally reaching the point in life on which they had set their hearts, the rug was pulled out from under them and they found themselves back at the beginning. Only those of patient persistence are rewarded. Only those who can hang in there long after the crowd has left drink from the victor’s cup. Repeated victories over your problems are the rungs on your ladder of success. Make your breaking point your turning point.