In the 1950s, a female swimming athlete set a goal for herself. She decided to swim across the English Channel before she retired. If she could make it, she would be the first person in the world who did it.

　　On that day, she jumped into the sea without any hesitation and swam towards the opposite bank.

　　In the journey, she faced heavy fog, heavy rain and heavy waves. Though she was very tired, she carried on swimming.

　　But in the end, she gave up. And what she didn’t know at the moment she gave up was that the opposite bank was only I mile away.

　　Later people asked her about the reason. And she said: "The reason why I gave up is that I could not see the destination which I was so close to."

　　Too many success stories have been lecturing us about courage and persistence(坚持). But they never told us where to find courage and persistence.

　　You can have courage only when you know where your goal is. You can manage to persist only when you know where your goal is, and prepare yourself well mentally(心理上).

　　Courage and persistence never fall from the sky. They come from weighing between input and output.

　　A life without goals is like a ship without a compass. It goes nowhere. There is no courage or persistence in a life without goals.