Success from Failure

“The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure”

John C. Maxwell is the author of an excellent book called “Failing Forward”.  I was lucky enough to come across this book about four or five years ago now and have read it about half a dozen times. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular at the time but as soon as I picked this book up I knew it was a book I needed to have.

This book really redefined the way I looked at the words, fail, failure and the likes. It was the first time that the word fail was used not as a negative and something to be embarrassed or ashamed of, but something to embrace as a learning experience on the way to becoming successful.

Thomas Edison once was quoted as saying “I haven’t failed I have just found 10 000 ways that won’t work”. Thomas Edison was able to realize when he had made a mistake or done something that would be regarded as a failure and learn from it and come up with something that does work.

Two good passages from the book sum up the way successful people look at failure.

• “Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failure and go on to the next challenge. It’s ok to fail, if you’re not failing, you’re not growing  “

H. Stanley Judd

• “Failure is the hallmark of success. It can be the starting of a new venture,

such as when a baby learns to walk; it has to fall down a lot to learn the new skill. Failure is also the mark of success you’ve worked for. When a pole-vaulter finally misses in competition, it shows how far he’s come. That failure becomes the starting point for his next effort, proving that failure is not final”

Dave Anderson

The great thing you get from this book and the central message to come out is that it’s ok to mess up, make mistakes and its ok to try something and fail. This message is completely the opposite of what we are taught growing up and especially when at school. Instead of being made to feel that we should be fearful of failing, or making mistakes and in turn not being having the confidence to try anything because of that fear of failure, we are instead given the freedom to make mistakes, try something and fail, and have the ability to learn more from our failures than we ever would by tip toeing around and trying not to make a mistake and not trying anything. And God forbid if we did screw up, because then we would feel so bad that rather than own up and learn from the experience we feel we need to cover it up so no one knows it was us, or hopefully no one realizes we’ve failed. So it teaches us that if we mess up, take responsibility, own up, learn and move on, and that out of the experience we can learn to be successful.

In anything we do there is a chance that we are going to fail, whether its in business, a relationship, at school, or university, or anything you attempt, but the important thing to remember is to not be afraid to have a go, if you come up short, learn and get as much as you can from the experience and even more importantly, DON’T GIVE UP! The ability to be successful is in learning from our mistakes and perseverance. NEVER EVER QUIT!

Remember Expect the Best because you Deserve the Best!

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Set The Bar High

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss

It, but that it is too low and we reach it

Michelangelo

It’s not that achieving what your after is a bad thing but I guess what Michelangelo was getting at was that we either underestimate ourselves and our abilities or we most probably don't  believe in or trust ourselves enough to go beyond what we perceive is our limit.

I don’t see it as a problem if we set the bar at a reasonably low level to start with so we can build our self confidence, self belief and gain some experience at hitting our targets so we can know the feeling of being successful.  But, the next target should at least be in the pipe works if not already set and it has to bigger and better. Once you have built up some momentum there wouldn’t be anything better than to keep it going and smash your next target. It’s a bit like in sporting terms being in the “zone” or going through a “purple patch” while you are in it better keep on going and reaching higher and striving harder.

Now this might seem a little pessimistic but you won’t always get it right, you will screw up, fail, miss the mark, say and call it whatever you want but there will be times things won’t go exactly to plan and success will seem to have eluded us. This is where we get up off the floor, dust ourselves off and go again, but this time look at what went wrong and don’t repeat the mistake, simple. It may seem a bit too simple but it really is as simple as that, make a mistake, learn from the mistake, don’t repeat the mistake or mistakes, and go out and become a success. Back when I was playing soccer I remember our captain at the time giving his pre game talk and even though it was only a pre season game he said that winning was a habit so even a pre-season game was important to win to get in the habit of winning.  A bit like I said before about building momentum and going with it, so even if initially you start setting your goals low but keep bumping them up higher as you reach them you’ll get in the habit f being successful and you will keep striving for that feeling.

“There are two tragedies in life, the first not achieving everything you want, the other is achieving everything you want, and the latter is the biggest tragedy”. A lecturer quoted this during a class one day when I was at University and he said it was a quote from Freud, but then I have also read some where that it may have come from someone else. Doesn’t really matter who said it just that they nailed it and that it shows that we are at our best when striving for success.

Remember to always expect the best for yourself, because you deserve the best!

How to Achieve Goals!

 

Learn How To Set And Achieve In Any Goal Using A Simple 3 Step Program. Never Settle For Anything Less Than Success. Set And Achieve Every Single Goal, Every Single Time.

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