Anyone can climb once.

There’s a story behind that.

This is your daily message from Chad number 1222 to upgrade your mental game today by telling yourself a better story, because the most important story you hear is the story you tell yourself. This message is dedicated to Kevin Swain.

Here’s the upgrade:

Starting over feels like going backward, but upgraded thinking knows the second climb is the one that shows who you are.

Here’s the story:

Today the name Louis Vuitton is stamped on handbags that cost more than a used car. Logos. Margins. A luxury empire. That’s not the man.

Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 in a small village in eastern France. His mother died when he was ten. His father remarried, and home stopped being home. At thirteen, he left. He walked to Paris. Close to three hundred miles. It took him about two years. He slept in the woods, worked odd jobs for craftsmen along the way, and showed up in the city with nothing.

A trunk-maker named Monsieur Maréchal took him on as an apprentice. Louis learned wood, canvas, and how to pack a rich traveler’s life so nothing broke. He got so good the Empress of France wanted him packing her trunks. He opened his own shop. He built a flat-topped canvas trunk. It was light, water-resistant, and most importantly stackable. This was the birth of modern luggage.

In 1870, war came. Paris was under siege. Louis and his family crowded into the city with thousands of refugees, and food ran so short they nearly starved. When the war ended, he went back to his workshop. His tools were stolen. His materials were gone. The workshop was wrecked. Louis Vuitton was nearly fifty years old. Homeless at thirteen. And now, everything gone again. Many people would have just given up, buy Vuitton knew he did it once and could do it again.

He took what was left of his savings, and while other people were selling, he bought. Prices had fallen because of the war. He picked up a shop in one of the best districts in Paris. Within months, orders were coming in from around the world. A setback is always a setup for a comeback.But most stay stuck in the set back.

The first climb runs on talent and hunger. You don’t know what it costs, so you just go. The second climb runs on character. Because this time you know exactly what it costs. You know how long it takes. You know how much it hurts. And you start anyway. Anyone can climb once. The question is who climbs again.

The better story to tell yourself is, “I’ve climbed before. I can climb again.” I’ve written the phrase in Sharpie on my treadmill, “You’ve done this so many times before.” I always feel like stopping. But I override that feeling with the reminder that I’ve completed this workout before and can do it again. Maybe you’re standing in a wrecked workshop today, like Vuitton. Maybe a plan you spent years on hit a setback. You’ve built before. You know the bill. Pay it again. You’ve paid it before. You can pay it again.

Tell me a story of starting over to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and ask them, “What’s something you had to build twice?” You can get a free copy of my book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to fromchad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message and hundreds of others are always available at www.fromchad.com.