Vince Lombardi once said, “It’s not if you get knocked down, it’s if you get back up.” The football coaching legend, the man who has the Super Bowl trophy named after him, knew a thing or two not just about football, but about life.

People give up too easily. We’ve grown accustomed to instant gratification and we want everything right here, right now. I’m no different. I want what I want, when I want it. However, if you set goals for yourself, you’re going to encounter some obstacles along the way. The road to success will have some speed bumps. There will be distractions. There will be some failures. There will be some pitfalls. It’s not if you get knocked down, but when you get knocked down. What will you do about it?

It’s easy to get discouraged. If you encounter a lot of problems along your path to success, it’s easier to get frustrated and discouraged. The thing is you have to get back up. You can’t stay down. Sometimes that feels like the easiest thing to do. I know. I’ve been there, just like all of you. Anybody who says they haven’t isn’t being entirely honest with themselves. You just have to have the courage to admit that you’re in a low place and you’re discouraged.

You can’t live in your pity party. Give yourself a little time to grieve whatever has caused your despair, then pick up the pieces and move on. You will get knocked down, but you have to get up. All of us have somebody who loves us, somebody who depends on us, somebody who needs us. We owe it to them to get back up. We owe it to ourselves to get back up.