The Secret of Moses' Success

Throughout history some of the greatest people often failed time after time before they really made it to the top. Others thought that they had failed but realized at a later stage in life that what they believed to be failure was in fact a grand success. Still others never succeeded in the conventional sense of the word, but became the hallmark of marvelous accomplishments, sometimes, without ever being aware of it.

When we carefully study the life of Moses, we are confronted with a series of failures. Until his eighties he spent most of his time on the run without getting anywhere: After a short period of tranquility at the palace of Pharaoh, Moses had to run for his life after he killed an Egyptian. He spent many years in different countries, often hiding from the soldiers of the Egyptian regime, never enjoying a quiet moment. On other occasions he continuously failed to make any impression on his surroundings. There is little doubt that when he reached the age of eighty, just before G-d called to him, he must have thought that his life was over and that is was predominantly wasted. Nothing was accomplished, he was still the same shepherd trying to obtain some meager food, running around in circles.

What's Moses' secret of success? He knew how to lose. He knew that his failures were in fact the building stones of his future successes. While he may never have known what his accomplishments were, he continued to fight and ultimately prevailed.