If there is any single factor that makes for success in living, it is the ability to benefit from defeat. Every success I know has been achieved because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually benefit from it in his next undertaking.

    Defeats are nothing to be ashamed of. They are routine incidents in life of ervery man who achieves success. But defeat is a dead loss unless you do face it without humaniliation, analyze it and learn why you have failed. Defeat, in other words, can help make up for the damage it causes. Not only does defeat prepare us for success, but it can arouse our 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 untill his whole weight is suspended. It is this same reaction that should give you greater strength every time you are defeated.

    If you confuse defeat with failure, you are doomed to fail, for it isn't defeat that makes you fail, but it is your own refusal to see in defeat the guide and encouragement to success. If you exploit the power that defeat gives, you can accomplish with it far more than you are capable of.