“If you win right away you will never know was it just a fluke or luck or were you brilliant” – Maria Konnikova

The earlier you act, the less information you have.

And stumbling along the way has its benefits because it offers information that success doesn’t offer.

Victory is mistakenly the goal but what the road that leads you to succeed guarantees you will know how to preserve your success.

Tomorrow: The Always-On Work Culture.  Sign up here to get it.

When things go well, they seem to keep going well without much effort.

Confidence breeds more success.

And when it doesn’t, it seems like we will never get off the schneid.

Losing becomes easier during a losing streak.

The only attitude that transcends the ups and downs of life is anticipating the next chance to succeed.

A football player who drops a pass doesn’t fear the next throw – in fact, they want to get the ball immediately expecting to catch it.

In life, a next up mentality factors out luck.

You’re down in the ninth inning and rally to win.

You’re down in the ninth, rally and lose but feel you could have won.

Down in the ninth, no rally but you learn a tough lesson for next time.

You never give up because you know in your heart that winning is a percentage of times at bat.

Optimism is a deep-seated belief that if you take enough swings, you’ll get enough hits.

Dominic Thiem was the first man in 70 years to come back two sets down in the U.S. Open to win a five-set match and become this year’s singles tennis champion.

In his acceptance speech Thiem hardly spent any time talking about himself.  He elevated the loser and in doing so himself and those who witnessed it.

Proving once again that we have accomplished nothing until we can show sincere gratitude for both our opponents as well as those who help us.

Watch this clip for lesson one.

There’s good luck and then there’s bad.

Factoring in either one is a waste of time.

Both good luck and bad luck can upend what we anticipate or present new opportunities and challenges.

You don’t wait to win the lottery or lose your job.

Luck is always a factor in anything we do but making your own luck is a better bet.

Failure itself is less to blame than the fear of failure.

In sports, when a team has a seemingly insurmountable lead, they play with confidence expecting the eventual win.

Individuals are far more complex.

Starting is a problem.  Many great ideas and wonderful opportunities are missed because fear of not succeeding is a hindrance.

The best way to overcome fear of failure is to change the way you think about it – see it as an opportunity to learn not as a vote on you and your value.

A ballplayer who hits .250 is failing 75% of the time but you can be sure they look forward to their next at-bat 100% of the time.

Canine Cottages fitted some dogs with heart rate monitors to discern what makes their tails wag in happiness.

They found a dog’s heart rate increases by 46% when they hear the words “I love you” from their owners.

And that dogs’ heart rates calmed down by 23% while being cuddled.

Expressing human emotions has never been more crucial than in our world of click, scroll and send so words of endearment can be powerful ways to make others happy.

Approval and acceptance are what people crave the most.

We all want it.

In meetings, in families, in relationships.

That’s why being able to sincerely parcel out acts and words of approval and acceptance is the secret sauce to winning the cooperation of others and making friends.

Criticism and rejection even if well-meaning is counter-productive.

The one who dishes out unconditional approval and acceptance is the leader.

Times are challenging but not impossible.

Continue to raise your spirits and of those around you.

This is our hidden power of working through adversity.

Our brains are like sponges.

They soak up everything they hear and see whether it is positive or negative.

So, allowing others to have direct access into your psyche is dangerous.

Take charge of what you let in by thinking of your mind as a recording device that repeats what it hears over and over again unless you specifically tell it no.

No criticism.

No insults.

No thoughts that limit your possibilities from others or yourself.

You can’t control what is said, but you can control what repeats in your subconscious.