Still Growing

Sir Edmund Hillary is famous being the first to climb Mt. Everest.

What many do not know is that Sir Hillary did not make it to the top of Everest the first time he tried. The first time was a complete failure. They encountered one problem after another and more than half his climbing party died.

Nonetheless, the British Parliament decided to honour him with some type of award. When he entered the chamber to receive his award, Sir Hillary saw a large picture of Everest had been set-up.

During the standing ovation that he was receiving, he walked over to the picture, shook his fist at it and said,

"You won, this time. But you are as big as you are ever going to get. And I'm still growing."

We frequently hear the stories of people who have succeeded. And we frequently assume that they succeeded the first time.

But it's the exact opposite.

The road to success is paved with the bricks of failure.