How to Turn Your Defeats
Into Your Biggest Allies

Have you ever heard of Patrick Matthew? Neither
had I. But what if I told you that
Matthew, a Scottish gardener, came up with
the idea of natural selection, and published
it, some 20 years before Charles Darwin
published On the Origin of Species? In a
moment, I'll reveal the odd twist which
defeated Patrick Matthew's bid for
immortality...

Teddy Roosevelt, in a famous speech Speech
at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, April 23,
1910, said, "... The credit belongs to the
man who is actually in the arena, whose face
is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short
again and again, because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming..." This
quote exemplifies the credo of successful
people, concerning their defeats.

You are in the arena too. And I know you
experience defeats; defeats are a natural by-
product of living fully. In fact, defeats
are so much a part of your normal life
experience that I've recently coined a new
Fun Commandment to remind you to use them
properly: Embrace Your Defeats.

Let's be clear, however, that I am talking
about embracing defeats - not failure. You
must recognize the difference between a
defeat and a failure; defeat is normal and
inevitable while failure is not. In fact,
failure is an illusion because it only
becomes real if you quit.

And you're no quitter.

Actually, embracing your defeats will ensure
that you don't quit. What motivates you to
quit, after all, but your accumulated,
unembraced defeats? I created this Fun
Commandment, you will find, so that you will
lose the urge to quit and, thus, escape
failure.

Embracing defeats de-mystifies them.
Defeats are not the monster you build them
up to be, they are actually your best
teachers. Successful people throughout
history, in fact, know that defeats are to
be cherished as learning experiences.

Unfortunately, unsuccessful people see
defeats as a sign to quit and, thus they
quit. But that is not your fate and this
Commandment is written to ensure that. When
the road gets rocky in your life and your
obstacles distract you from your goals, you
will remember this Commandment and embrace
your defeats as a natural part of your
personal and professional growth!

And, as always, humor rides in on a white
horse, showing up as your best ally in
helping you remember to embrace your
defeats. A joke under analysis is, after
all, a wonderful analogy for a defeat.

What is a defeat, really? A defeat is an
unplanned (and often, unwanted) outcome; a
knee-bending curveball thrown when you
expected a big, fat fastball over the heart
of the plate! We've been taught by well
meaning people to hate these unexpected
turns of events we call "defeats."

What is a joke, really? A joke is an
unplanned (and, when I'm telling one, often
unwanted) outcome; a missing step that sends
you into a pratfall when you expected a
thirteenth stair. We've been taught,
correctly, to love these unexpected outcomes
we call "jokes."

Why do you love one and hate the other when,
in principal, they're the same thing? Well,
from now on, you don't have to. You will
take your same love of humor and apply it to
your defeats! Look out world, here you come!

Patrick Matthew, by the way, was denied the
eternal glory given to Darwin because he
wrote about natural selection in a book
called Naval Timber and Arboriculture. As
you might've guessed by the title, Matthew's
book was not a best seller! Darwin,
himself, expressed sympathy for Matthew but
was not surprised that no one, including
himself, had read about natural selection in
a book about naval timber and
arboriculture.

Such is life; as Patrick Matthew discovered,
defeats are a part of being in the arena. In two
weeks, I'll reveal the inside secrets of
a huge celebrity who uses humor to embrace
his defeats. But in the mean time, please
let me know how your new attitude toward
them impacts your life.

Your Attention Please!
Cori Young is a friend of ours; a member of
our Humor Being Network, Cori even has an
article published on our website (it's a
great article about science proving the
usefulness of love in child development). I'd
like you to visit Cori's website and
check out some really cool, fun stuff which
will help you be even healthier and happier than
you are now. Visit her today and take some
time to look into her great wallcharts - I
love 'em!

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Some Humor for the Week

"There are about thirty doctors in the U.S.
Congress. That's rather strange. Half the
time these folks are playing God and asking
women to take their clothes off and the
other half of the time they will be doctors."
Jay Leno

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themselves by going to "http://www.natural-
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spread the happiness virus together!