I remember driving the 12 hours to our skiing holiday in Austria listening along with my 5 sons in the car to “The Young Samurai” by Chris Bradford, where Jack Fletcher was sprawled on the floor, after a fight. Sensei Yamada explained “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” But what does it mean?

The proverb “Nana korobi, ya oki” is about making a choice and never giving up hope. By having an end goal in mind, a dream or a vision of where we want to be, to directing our thoughts to lead us on that journey, through the difficulties.

The thing that often separates those that succeed, from those that fail, is persistence. Imagine your world if Edison had said “I have had enough of this” and stopped working on his 1900th light bulb.

Have you ever experienced seeing someone else take something to market and succeed, then think but “I had that idea…”. Making something happen requires action. Succeeding also means failing and often what lets us down in the process of “succeeding” is our attitude to failure. We fail to get back up. Fail more often and small.

Learn every time and improve.

When you face difficulty “Pause to assess the situation and then approach the challenge head-on with determination and creativity” – Theo Paphitis