Failure. A term that is thrown around in today’s world so often you would think you can’t do anything right. If we don’t initially succeed at something we automatically call it a failure. Why is that? What is failure? What is success?
Success or failure?
Is success defined as completing something at the first attempt? No. But today’s society deems anything that requires more than one attempt an initial failure. Take the classic case of your driving test. You either pass or fail. That’s it. If you pass on your second attempt it’s because you failed on your first attempt.
Words have great power and must be used carefully. Once people are told that they failed at something or that they are a failure, negative emotions are released. However if people are told that they have passed something or that they are a success then positive emotions are released. But is it really a failure if you continue to persevere and chase after your goal? Absolutely not. In fact it’s a trait of a highly successful person – perseverance. It is always about the journey and not the end goal. The journey is what makes you. The end goal is just the reward for completing that journey.
Learnings
My point is that there is no such thing as failure. Every obstacle you face and “fail” at provides you with an opportunity to learn, improve and grow, and to learn is to succeed not fail. For example let’s take a look at Michael Jordan – arguably the greatest ever basketballer in the history of the NBA.
‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed’.
Michael Jordan
What is Michael trying to tell us here? It’s obvious no? Through all his “failures” he has succeeded. How? By continuously applying himself to his craft, his passion, and his purpose with an unrivalled intent to improve and become the best version of himself possible.
If you are persistent with chasing your goals and what you wish to achieve you cannot possibly fail. To fail is to not try. If you can honestly look at yourself in the mirror and say that you gave it your all today, well then you have not failed, you have succeeded my friends. But it doesn’t stop there. You can’t stop there. The challenge begins all over again the next day. This is where consistency comes into it.
By the way you may have noticed that Michael said he had failed over and over again in the quote I have used above. But I can assure you he does not think of missing those shots as a failure, but more of a lesson to grow and develop.
There is no such thing as failure if you persevere. You may not have reached your goal yet, but you’re moving closer to it. You’re moving closer to success.
Thank you.
Tony.
