victory and defeat

both victory and defeat can lead a person to inaction. victory through complacency, defeat through disappointment. the answer is not to shun victory, or to shun defeat (for these are the very instruments of progression), but to value character over outcome. 

do not do the best you can because you believe it will yield the desired result, but because you want to be a person who does the best he or she can. in this way, you can safeguard yourself from both demoralization and premature satisfaction.