My first professional boxing match was HORRIBLE.

My opponent and I were completely mismatched, and I got my butt kicked. It was rough.

But I went on to win my next SEVEN professional fights…in a ROW. (I had 15 fights total in my career.)

What do you think would have happened if I’d thrown in the towel after that first loss and decided, “I can’t do this?”

I know I wouldn’t have become the second-ranked boxer in the world. Ring Magazine wouldn’t have named me one of the three deadliest females on the planet. I would not have starred in my own MTV show, or trained celebrities and models.

And I sure as heck wouldn’t be where I am today: Transforming lives with the Code Red Lifestyle.

Failure sucks. I’m totally with you on that! Especially when it happens over and over.

But there’s an important takeaway here: ONE thing separates people who get what they want and people who don’t:

How they respond to failure.

You can let failure defeat you. Or you can look at what went wrong, learn from it, and try again. And again. As many times as it takes to get where you want to be.

I get that’s hard.

But I still I tell my Code Red Rebels: You can give up or rise up. YOU choose.

Because it IS a choice, even if it doesn’t feel like one. No one forces you to quit.

Instead of giving in next time something doesn’t go your way, take a step back and say, “What can I learn from this? What I can do better next time?” And then take action on what you learn.

Decide to rise up. You can do it.