I Win Because I Fail

Many of you already know that I’m a very goal-oriented person. I know what I want in life, but I’m also “man enough” to admit that I’m not necessarily the fastest, strongest, or the smartest person that I know. One special personal trait I do highly value however is my willingness to persevere through difficulties in order to achieve my goals in life—I just don’t stop until I “hit my target.” I have to admit that most of the time my goals take longer than I anticipate, which may be the result of my overly optimistic attitude, but this same trait has also been one of my best saving graces in times of my toughest personal trials. Inside my 3-inch thick dream book that is categorized into 11 different aspects of my life, I have included the following quote: “Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck—but most of all, endurance.” [1] When I was in high school, a math teacher one day asked me what I wanted to study in college, and I said “engineering.” Her response to my answer will be eternally etched into my memory. She looked at the ceiling and with an exasperated voice said “heaven help us!” What was so surprising, even to me, was how I reacted to her comment. It was at that moment that I knew that I was going to be an engineer. Someone had just told me that I did not have the capacity to do something and, for good or for bad, I could not allow that person to impose a limitation on my success in life. After countless prayers offered to help me endure through some seemingly insurmountable personal struggles and failures, combined with a very determined and disciplined work ethic, I eventually earned a masters degree in Civil Engineering and then passed a very rigorous 13-hour long California Engineering Licensure Examination.

Like me, you too, may face people in your personal life who decide to impose limitations on your potential for one silly reason or another: You’re not this, you’re not that, you don’t have this and you don’t have that. Fortunately, I am smart enough to distinguish when someone is trying to give me sincere advice, directed towards my best well-being, and those who derive no other pleasure than to see me fail in order to justify their own self-imposed shortcomings. In my personal life, l make it a point to avoid such dark personalities no less vigilantly than one would run away from the plague. I do this because I am a winner and I want to maintain an environment as much as possible where I am around other winners who inspire me to be better.

Disclaimer: I am not a winner because I was born one, but because I do not accept to be anything but one. And I believe that I am the only person who has control over that designation. Of course, if I were to judge my “success” based on a short-term perspective, yes, I have been designated “second place,” “third place,” and a countless number of “no places” for as long as I can remember. So fortunately, that is not how I judge my success. My success has always been based on identifying the specific things in life that motivate me, that inspire me, and that make me happy. I then clearly write these things on paper and/or cut out pictures that help me clearly visualize what my “targets” are. I keep everything in a three-ring binder to view regularly, and I’m regularly adding items that inspire me, and I also subtract items that no longer motivate me. I have found the following principle to be a good rule of thumb for choosing my targets: images and statements only get to stay in my dream book if they continue to inspire me to spend energy necessary to achieve the desired result. But please do not misunderstand. I understand that the day-to-day implementation of realizing most, if not all of my goals requires hard, consistent, and persistent effort to achieve. And I believe that anyone who thinks or tells you otherwise, about any aspect of life’s most meaningful achievements, is either lying to you or is living in a fantasy world. And the more lofty the success, the harder you will have to work to attain it. A mountain climber who endeavors to reach a difficult summit—if and when he makes it to the top—arrives at the top sweating, bruised, and fatigued from the long climb, but the breathtaking view at the summit replaces all the fatigue with the sheer exhilaration of accomplishing the task. That’s the reward for hitting the target!

In terms of that portion of your life that you devote to Sunrider, I would like to recommend that you regularly remind yourself about those things you love about being here. Has your life improved by virtue of using Sunrider® foods? Do you appreciate Dr. Chen’s multimillion dollar manufacturing investment to realize the full power of the Philosophy of Regeneration™? Do you look better? Have you made meaningful friends here? Have you improved your financial well-being in proportion to the actual time that you are investing in your Sunrider business on a day-to-day basis (do the math and you may be delightfully surprised just how much money you are making per hour in Sunrider)?* Your reason(s) for being here are not necessarily the reasons another IBO joined, but you need to define them clearly and review them regularly in order to weather the storms of everyday life. “Life” is going to get in the way; but then again that’s just life. Your personal decision to stay focused and stay motivated despite the inevitable failures and disappointments that all successful people must face will make you the winner in the end. And the bigger the winner you want to be, the tougher the disappointments and failures you must be willing to experience. I have devoted an entire section of my personal library to learning about the mental toughness of an elite military Special Forces unit called the Navy SEALs. Prospective SEALs must arguably endure the toughest physical, mental, psychological, and academic military screening program in the world in order to join this small elite community of warriors. Today there are only about 3,000 active SEALS operating in the entire world. From what I have learned so far, I have come to the conclusion that those few individuals who make it through this rigorous training program each had to make a personal commitment to persevere through disappointment and difficulty to the very end, no matter what obstacle or challenge was thrown in front of them. And that’s the true mark of a winner.

In conclusion, you will win only if you are willing to fail. Keep your eyes on your targets, despite “life” inevitably getting in your way. Resolve yourself to do this, and you will realize every meaningful dream and aspiration that you set out for yourself and for your loved ones.

John Teng
North American Sales Manager—Sunrider International

[1] James Baldwin, quoted by Jordan Elgrably in Paris Review

*The earnings stated are not necessarily representative or typical of the earnings Sunrider Independent Business Owners (IBOs) can or will earn through participation in the Sunrider Compensation Plan. These statements should not be considered as guarantees or projections of your actual earnings or profits. The average annual income of Sunrider’s active IBOs was $2,627 in 2007. An active IBO is an IBO who has purchased 50 SV or more in 2007. As with any other independent business, success results only from dedicated sales efforts, hard work, diligence, and leadership.