Builders insist that success may never come without a compelling personal commitment to something you care about and would be willing to do with or without counting on wealth, fame, power, or public acceptance as an outcome.

Do or do not. There is no try," says Yoda, the bewitching philosopher warrior created by George Lucas in Star Wars. Yoda is quoted at least as often as the founding fathers on this topic.

Success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea, organizational structure, or business model for an enterprise, than with discovering what matters to us as individuals.

Builders insist that success may never come without a compelling personal commitment to something you care about and would be willing to do with or without counting on wealth, fame, power, or public acceptance as an outcome.

Enduringly successful people, many of whom live a life that's a gift to the world, don't raise balance as a major issue-not because they had it masterfully handled, but because they were all busy doing what mattered to them.

Builders think of success and failure as feedback. They don't judge either as a complete win or loss.

For most Builders, the journey is like shooting for the moon and instead hitting Mars-perhaps a better, but different outcome than envisioned. Builders are the first to admit (at least, in private) that planning works, but as the adage goes, the plan itself, rarely does.