Fall down 7 times, get up 8

• Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Burton never won an oscar
• Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson all lost elections for the presidency of the United States before they eventually won.
• Jack Canfield was turned down by more than 30 publishers before 1 said yes we'll publish the chicken soup for the soul. Boy i bet those 30 plus publishers are regretting that decision!

There are of course, the counter:

• The team that was a guaranteed winner, lost
• The favouite fell at the first fence (happened to me in a sweep in the Grand National)
• Those 130 wanna be Navy Seals out of every class who gave up their dreams

And what about us?

I have been knocked down so many times I've lost count:

• I wish now I had kept the rejection letters, but in those days I took things way too seriously.
• The diets that have failed
• The injuries that have prevented me from finishing many of my sporting goals
• My marriage that fell apart
• My brilliant business ideas that never got off the ground

It isn't that we fail that is the problem, someties the problems is that we fail to begin, and sometimes when we do, we fail to keep going when we know we should dig deep and go harder.

I was sent something today that I would like to share with you, it's called the dash - the dash is the line that sits between 2 dates... in this case birth and death. It's only a couple of minutes long, but worth the click through. As you ponder your own "dash" I'd also like to throw in a couple more thoughts for you.

• Look at your resume - and the dashes between the start and finishing dates of each position you've held.
• Your years at school, and later college and university
• The length of time without work or money
• The time you spent away from home, or the time your loved ones have spent away from home, especially those who are away in the forces
• The hours you spend behind the wheel of the car each day, in front of a computer screen or sitting in a doctors surgery waiting for the news...

As we all know that time will pass regardless of whether we decide to use it constructively or not. Whether we work on our goals and dreams or whether we fritter it away like some celebrities spend money. At the end, it's how we spent "the dash" that really counts.

In the words of one memorable song "I get knocked down, I get up again" how about you?

Elle