Pick any field of life, name the most successful person from that field, and you will find a person who was not afraid to fail.

Politics: Doesn’t Abraham Lincoln come to your mind as being of the most respected presidents this country ever had? He failed in eight straight election before he finally won the big one.

Business: Did you know that two of the most respected names in business Walt Disney and Henry Ford, both had to declare personal bankruptcy before they could rise on to higher levels of success?

Sports: Babe Ruth may have held the record for home runs, but he held the record for most strikeouts as well.

Writing: The international best-seller John Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, was rejected by dozens of publishers before it finally found a home.

Acting: Search the life of any major star from Clint Eastwood to Lily Tomlin, and you’ll find that at some point they had to pump gas, drive a taxi or wait tables until their break came.

Public Speaking: Perhaps America’s greatest public speaker, Zig Ziglar gave three thousand free speeches before he ever got paid for one.

Music, Art, Education; pick any field. It doesn’t matter. The story is the same. The most successful ones endured countless failures and rejection on their way to the top. But they were dauntless (incapable of being intimidated or discouraged). Like them, if we refuse to be daunted (drained of courage, subdued, intimiated), we join the ranks of the great. Fight on. It’s worth it. You’re worth it.