It is said that Thomas Edison attempted to refine the incandescent light bulb 10,000 times before perfecting it! I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is, what do you think kept him going? Why not just throw in the towel and conclude it's not possible?
Was it passion? Determination? Well, something was certainly fueling him from within and I feel that is oftentimes the missing ingredient in so many of our ventures today.
Whenever our heart is not really into something we're pursuing - for example, if we're simply money-driven rather than passion-driven, all our fizzled attempts can easily eat away at our motivation. In fact, the whole process can begin to feel like pure drudgery, which often leads us to give up before ever reaching our goal.
Having these types of experiences is actually beneficial though because by going through such processes, questions are raised within us and the answers help us become clearer about who we are and what we ARE truly passionate about.
Passionless endeavors weaken our motivation. That's why it's so important for us to uncover what it is we really love and are excited about; what we genuinely aspire to achieve, because when the going gets tough, it will sometimes take every ounce of ourselves to get there. Having a deep-seated desire and determination is the fuel that will help us get back up and persevere when we fall.
I personally don't believe we ever actually 'fail' at anything. I think Edison was accurate when he said, "I have not failed. I have just found 9999 ways that do not work." Each unsuccessful attempt brings with it a bit more clarity and wisdom.
So the first step to living a purpose-filled life is to find the thing that excites us the most. That dream we're so hungry for that quitting is virtually impossible. Then we've got to go after that dream. We've got to keep attempting and with each attempt we improve until eventually we run out of deficiency options and achieve our goal. Then we will look back and realize that any missteps or blunders we experienced were actually just stepping stones on our way to getting there, making the arrival all the sweeter.