My father made me....

Richard Abruzzo has dazzled hot-air ballooning fans for years. In 1992, he and his flight team set a world's record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Richard knows, though, that he might not have been so successful if not for the adventurous spirit of his father, Ben, also a hot-air balloonist. He taught Richard to reach bravely for the sky. In 1977, my dad and his partners decided to try to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot-air balloon. In one hundred years of ballooning history, there had been more than a dozen attempts, but no one had successfully completed the trip. Five people had even lost their lives trying.

Most people had decided it was an impossible thing to do, but my dad decided to give it a whirl. After months of working and planning, he launched from the coast of Massachusetts. He hoped to land in France a few days later. I wondered as he disappeared into the night sky if I would ever see him again.

Unfortunately, he and his team hit a big storm in Iceland and had to give up their dream. Experts said they were lucky to survive. For a while, Dad said, "Never again."

But within a month, he and his team were planning again. They just wouldn't give up.

When they launched from Maine in 1978, they had one failure behind them. But what they had learned from it must have made a difference. On their second attempt, Dad and his partners made it all the way to France.

To assume you'll get something on the first try--and not to try again if you don't--is a big mistake, because you learn so much from your failures. If you take it all the way, you'll be a winner. If you never give up, you'll never really fail.