The pixilated world around us was getting disorienting.  And, while the music and challenges were familiar, being stuck in the succession of 1980s video games was starting to take its toll.  The night had started in the corner shop pizza place, but somehow the coin-operated jukebox had trapped us.  Our only chance was working through the series of games until we made it to the final round: space invaders!  Being inside the game required a lot more coordination, skill, and insight than was required when playing the game in the real world.  And it wasn’t looking good.  After saving the world countless times (sometimes with minutes or even seconds to spare), our time had run out.  The invaders had won; the earth was lost!  Our bad.

We have found from our many experiences that you should always keep going while you still have time left.  Many times, things have looked lost, but we were able to pull success at the last possible moment.  But failures happen.  Personal and professional resilience comes from taking challenges and failures in stride.  When you dwell on the negative, you forget that success doesn’t just come from the wins but also the experiences, the lessons, team building, and fun.  These things are possible even when you don’t win in the end.  The next time you have a failure, take a moment to consider what was gained.  Did you learn something?  Did you do your best?  Could you do better next time?  We seldom are not given another chance.  Take what you can from every experience, even when you can’t save the world from space invaders.