I should put a little more meat on it. The point is in the daily choices that people make for themselves. If one 'had to take' a particular path, that implies the choice was not theirs to make, and that is perfectly understandable.
In the end, it has to be left to the individual to determine whether they are making the most of what they have, so for me, it is a guiding principle to use in self-reflection, rather than a score card to be judged by.
That term failure is ambiguous to some: suppose "failure" means one try didn't work, "defeat" means gave up, never trying again and causes a loss of confidence.
