excelled in failures?
How do you react to failure? Your assignment today is to journal about how you deal with it. When something doesn’t work, do you quit? Or does failure encourage you to work harder to find a better solution? Come up with three ways to change your present habits and deal with failure better.
Take a lesson from Thomas Edison today. If you want to achieve your biggest dreams, then you must practice turning failure into success. How can you use the knowledge you’ve gained from things that don’t work? What can you do differently the next time around? What did you learn from the experience? You never fail if you learn from your mistakes.
91
Arthur Guiterman was an American writer who was best known for his humorous poems that cut straight to the truth. In today’s quote, he offers up a valuable life lesson. When you fall—and you will fall—fall forward.
Many of us fear failure. There is no way we would subject ourselves to a heavy hitting atmosphere in life. We don’t want to get hurt, so we would rather not try to reach for some of those lofty goals that will bring us success. But what would happen if we get in the game and plan to get tackled?
Think about this for a moment. Would it take a little pressure off if you just assume you will fall down and plan for how you’re going to pick yourself back up? That might be less stressful than hoping and praying that you will get through life unscathed. The truth is, if you plan to reach success, you will experience failure. You will fall down. You have a choice, though. You have a choice to fall forward.
What exactly does it mean to fall forward? Write down your answer to that question in your journal. When something doesn’t work, find at least one lesson you can draw from the situation that will help you move forward in life. What did you learn? What can you change? What will you remember never to do again? How can you work more effectively with others to attain your goal the next time?
Your job today is to fall forward.
92
You touched on fear a little bit yesterday. Have the courage today to take a look at your fears head on. Is it really failure that keeps you from reaching success, or is it fear? Does failure stop your progress, or does fear put on the breaks?
Failure gets a bad rap, but it is actually an integral part of success. It is essential for success. In fact, failure is the foundation of success. What do you think about that? Do you believe it?
When you learned to ride a bike, did you just hop on and take off? If you did, you are a freak of nature. Most kids experience a series of failures when they learn to ride a bike. Each failure teaches them something new about balance and coordination. They also may enlist the help of an adult or an older sibling or friend to run alongside and help them while they learn. Their fear of failure is overridden by the intense desire to ride a bike. Their failures become a foundation for their success, because they use them to learn. They modify their actions with each and every attempt, and pretty soon they’re flying through the neighborhood on their own.
Failure is not something to be feared. It is a very important tool for success. Launch into new adventures today with the abandon that you had when you learned to ride a bike. Let go of the brakes and fly down that hill. Experience the rush of adrenaline you get when you go for it. Let go of your fears. They have no place on the road to success.
93
