“It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get up again.” Vince Lombardi

Consider Sylvester Stallone and his amazing success. As a child, he was often told by his father that he had no brains. He grew up lonely and confused about what his talents were. He dropped in and out of different schools and had little academic success.

An advisor at Drexel University to him that, based on aptitude testing, the career he was best suited for was elevator repair. He didn’t listen. Instead, he tried to pursue acting, but his helper-smelter life led to failure after failure.

But he remained determined to pursue and develop his chosen craft. He decided to use his failure productively by trying his hand at scriptwriting. After watching Muhammad Ali fight a relatively unknown boxer who managed to give the champ a run for his money, Stallone was inspired to pen the script for Rocky. He wrote it in less than four days.

After Rocky’s phenomenal success, he went on to write a series about the beleaguered boxer and other series as well. At one point in his career he landed a $60 million development deal.

What would have happened if Stallone had given up when he was knocked down? But he didn’t. Whatever came his way, he bounced back, learned and moved forward.

“There’s no failure, just feedback. No losing, just learning.” This wonderful way of reframing a setback comes to us from Dr. Rob Gilbert, my friend and mentor.*

Whenever our next setback crops up, let’s remember Rocky and Stallone. And see it not as failure, but feedback, and then write on!

*You can hear a daily dose of motivation from Dr. Gilbert on his Success Hotline Podcast.

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