As another example were the politics of colonization. Even though at first only Spain was interested in colonizing the Americas, after a while you basically had skirmishes every time you explored as to whom the land belonged to. Because then England, France, Holland and Portugal were claiming colonies and not all got along very well, in fact attacks by other nations were common during the early days.
One big problem was that they were in fact lost in these new continents. They either relaid on local guides or just gut feelings. Which was catastrophic in the sense that if they got lost; nobody could help them. Many explorers were lost on the conquest of South America. Other tragic examples were Humbolt's and Cabeza de Vaca's expedition on North America. The bottom line is that they weren't prepared or had any idea of what to expect on these new lands.
succotash was a simple corn and beans dish. The dish found lasting popularity with natives (across tribal lines) and colonists alike. The dish also became popular during the Great Depression because of the relatively inexpensive and availability of ingredients,
I think he meant that to be successful is to try without which implies that every time you wake up you do not think or wish about being successful it just happens without any second thought.