Last week a friend of mine, Ursula Pong, a beautiful (inside and out) 50 year old PE teacher at my school asked me to try something called the TRX 40/40 challenge.

I wasn’t able to do it. But I tried my best.

Physical setbacks (and I had my fair share of them last year) are like stepping stones. Success is entirely relative, but if we set goals (whether financial other otherwise) the journey towards achieving them is definitely worth it. I don’t want to sound trite, but I think it’s important to challenge ourselves mentally and physically.

If we lose money in the markets (permanent long term money) we need to learn why and set goals to ensure that it won’t happen again. If the powers that be choose to give us cancer or another life-threatening illness, we need to set goals to overcome the ailment—or deal as positively as we can with the hand we’ve been dealt.

I can’t speak for everyone who gets sick or gets wiped out financially, or who fails at something…but goal setting is key.

And when you fail, as I did on this exercise challenge, embrace it and fight back.

I’m going to complete this challenge in one month. And when I do it, I’ll let you know. The operative word has to be “when” not “if”.

It’s better to burn out than to fade away, right?