One of the most inspiring quotes I ever heard regarding perseverance was by Brian Tracy. He said: “The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people fail many more times than unsuccessful people.”

I personally experienced the wisdom of that understanding right after my first book was published. Like many authors, I envisioned hundreds of bookstore customers lining up for me to benevolently sign copies for them.

I’m afraid to say, it didn’t quite happen like that.

I was living in Atlanta at the time and arranged my first signing at The Phoenix and Dragon, the largest inspirational bookstore in the city. The store was celebrating its 15th anniversary and had authors scheduled to appear throughout the three-day event. I was scheduled Sunday at 5pm, the last day and time slot of the celebration.

Brimming with anticipation, I was put into a private signing room in the beautiful store, and for the next hour and a half, had little more to do than to read my own book and wonder for what purpose in the world I had felt so driven to spend four years writing it.

Despite a nice sign placed outside the room exhibiting images of both me and my book, The 9 Insights of the Wealthy Soul, not a single customer entered the room. As each minute passed, I became increasingly anxious.

Do they not like the title? I wondered. Do they not like the book cover?

After 90 minutes of this torture, I was absolutely distraught.

For the four years writing the book, I had felt a sense of mission and purpose like never before in my life. Working a full 8 to 9 hour day in my clinic, I had lived on a strict regimen during the four years of getting into bed by 9:30pm, so I could quiet my mind and feel a sense of surrender before turning out the lights at 11. I would sleep with that silent potentiality, so I could wake up at 5:30 in the morning and have two pristine hours of writing before heading into my clinic.

我听过的关于“毅力”的最鼓舞人心的一句名言，出自布赖恩-特蕾西之口。他说：“成功者和失败者的区别是，成功者比失败者要经历更多的失败。”

我的第一本书出版之后的亲身经历让我对这句名言的智慧有了深刻的理解。与许多作者一样，我也曾想象有几百个我的书迷朋友在书店里排起长龙，期待着我亲切地为他们签名。

那时我住在亚特兰大，正在为我的第一次签名售书活动做准备。这次签名售书活动被安排在龙凤书店举行，那是亚特兰大市最大的励志书书店。为了庆祝书店开业15周年，书店邀请了一些作家陆续在为期3天的庆祝活动中亮相。我被安排在星期天下午5点出席活动—那是三天庆祝活动的最后一天，也是活动的一段间隙。

那天，我满怀期待。我被安排在漂亮的龙凤书店的一个专用签名室里。可是在接下来的一个半小时里，我除了百无聊赖地翻看自己的书之外，没有其他事情可做。我不禁问自己，究竟是什么促使我花了四年的时间来写作这本书。

签名室的外面摆着一块漂亮抢眼的广告牌，上面展示着我的头像，以及我的书——《富足灵魂的九大顿悟》，然而却没有一个客人走进这个房间。随着时间一分一秒地过去，我变得越来越焦虑不安。

他们不喜欢我的书名吗?我充满疑问。还是不喜欢书的封面设计?

这种折磨持续了90分钟以后，我彻底疯掉了。

在著书的4年时间里，我有一种前所未有的使命感和目标感。那时，我每天在诊所工作8到9个小时。那4年里，我的作息时间极为严格，每天晚上9点半准时上床，以便在11点熄灯之前的这段时间里，能使大脑平静下来，体会一种抛开杂念，交出身心的感觉。带着这种沉默的潜在力量入睡，我就可以在早上5点半起床，利用完整的两个小时来写作，然后再前往诊所。