Quote of the Day: Mike Ditka on Success

We often believe life is a courtroom: every win is evidence you’re worthy, every loss is a verdict you can’t appeal. But “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal” offers a more optimistic truth, your outcomes are data, not destiny, and you get to keep moving.

Read it like a coach would: as a tool for staying psychologically movable. If you let success harden into identity, you stop practicing the unglamorous basics that created it. If you let failure become an obituary, you play tight, protect your ego, and stop experimenting. Either way, you lose your ability to learn, the only advantage that compounds.

Try applying the line in a simple rhythm: celebrate briefly, review honestly, then reset. After a good day, ask, “What did I do that I can repeat on purpose?” After a bad day, ask, “What is the next rep I can take without drama?” Keep your standards high and your storylines small. That’s leadership in private, leading your own mind before you try to lead anyone else.

Mike Ditka earned the right to speak this way through decades of high-stakes football, as a standout NFL player and a head coach who understood that careers can pivot on a single assignment, then pivot back with the next week’s work.

February 2 is Groundhog Day, a reminder that tomorrow comes whether you feel “ready” or not. Today, pick one recent win and one recent loss; write one lesson from each, then take one concrete action in the next 24 hours that honors the lesson, send the email, do the workout, make the repair. Let resilience be your quiet practice, and may your next rep be clean.