Columns

It has been nearly thirteen years since Calvin H. Borel won the spectacular Kentucky Derby finish! He was often called Bo Rail for his tendency to hug the rail, which doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it is the shortest path to the winner’s circle. On May 1, 2010, the Catahoula native won the 136th Kentucky Derby while riding 8-1 Super Saver, making this Calvin’s third win in the last four Kentucky Derbies. It was a tremendous achievement that has never been accomplished before!

There were some pretty good thunderstorms across south Louisiana on April 24, 1953 — the kind we see regularly when fronts slide through the area. Nobody suspected they were the beginning of a series of downpours that eventually sent every stream in south Louisiana way out of its banks.
Twelve people died as a direct result of the floods they caused. Damage was estimated at $35 million, second only to the harm brought to Louisiana by the great flood of 1927. The area between the Atchafalaya and Sabine rivers got the worst of it.

Excuses for failure are far more prevalent than affirmations to succeed. It takes less effort to be a naysayer than a discoverer of solutions. Too many people become experts at what won’t work. They have incontrovertible justifications to explain why success in not within their grasp. Any subsequent failure is used to prove their logic correct.

Let’s look at some commonly used rationale adopted by failure experts and why they don’t have to apply to you.

It’s not so easy