It’s December 2020 and the year is almost done.
You are probably bunking down as the weather gets colder or breaking out the picnic basket and towels to enjoy summer.
Before I get into this weeks blog I just want to say thank you to all my loyal customers, friends, and all that work behind the scenes at davidclee.com,
Let’s give 2021 a real shake and I look forward to serving you in 2021 and beyond.
Fail Your Way To Success
Some people are so afraid of failure that they live a contracted life too scared to venture outside of their comfort zone. They become so confined to the imaginary cage they have surrounded themselves in. As Thomas Edison said in relation to the invention of the light bulb.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
Don’t base your confidence and motivation on failure. One bad day won’t affect your whole life. Failure is just an event not a destination. One of my favorite quotes on failure is from Robert T. Kiyosaki
“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
Real Estate icon John McGrath states that the successful person always has five or six balls in the air because invariably not all projects, strategies and ventures will succeed. There is not one successful person I know that hasn’t experienced failure in their life.
The rise and rise of Elon Musk is incredible, but it wasn’t always that way. Paypal was voted the worst business concept of the year. Tesla was failing spectacularly & disaster struck SpaceX time and time again.
Here are six principles for beating failure rather than letting it beat you:
- Learn from failure.
Have you heard the adage “Love ’em and leave ’em”? Well, I have my own saying about failures: “Learn from ’em and leave ’em”. Learn from what took place, then leave. Don’t let your mind dwell on it. Leave it in the basket marked Learnt.
- Don’t set up camp in your mistakes.
A lot of people make a mistake, get bogged down and then pitch their tent there. They continue living on the campsite of failure.
My advice is simple: GET OUT OF THERE! Keep moving on to a new plot of land and build an empire there, something other than a tent which can get blown away by the winds of competition, compromise or challenge.
- Don’t rehash past losses.
One of the saddest things to me is people rehashing past losses and hurts. It’s like living in a rubbish dump. They keep stirring that pile of rotting garbage around and around, and it stinks. If I rehashed the negatives every time I had a bad day speaking or in life I’d never get up to speak again or be involved in any businesses. I have experienced some incredible failures and setbacks in life but the important part is to pick yourself up and dust yourself off.
Don’t regurgitate past failures. Bury them and throw away the shovel. Don’t come back and dig them up again.
- Keep working on it.
Maybe you’ve just failed to reach a sales or budget target, you’ve lost a major client or you’ve been out day after day and night after night trying to discuss your business with people who don’t want to work with you. Perhaps it’s something smaller, like putting on weight when you’re trying to shake it off, or not completing a report on time. Even if you don’t succeed, keep working on it.
- View failure from new angles.
Ask yourself: “Was it failure or lack of preparation? Was it the wrong timing? Did I consider all the options?” It might not have been failure; it might have been a miscalculation. It might even be an opportunity to see your obstacles from a different viewpoint and achieve a greater success than you originally expected.
- Remember: failure is not final.
If at first you don’t succeed, Join the line. Tomorrow is a new day. Try, try and try again.
The following words of Teddy Roosevelt relate to confidence and failure and they’re just as powerful today as they were when this great man first uttered them.
“It’s not the cynic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails on daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”
That is a powerful and awesomely true statement.
More Motivation Killers
Failing to beat failure is a massive hindrance to motivation. Passively lying down and accepting second best as your lot in life, rather than taking the knocks and scrapes and moving on, drags you down into defeat. Dig your heels in and resist!
Another hindrance is the only kind of party you don’t want to get invited to: a pity party. Wallowing in self-pity over a failed goal or missed target is a sure motivation killer. It will sap you of energy and confidence overnight, with worse consequences than a hangover.
Sometimes you can allow yourself to believe what others say about you and to convince you you’re a liar. In the Disney movie and wonderful stage play The Lion King, which is a powerful story of destiny, little Simba believes that he is the cause of the death of his beloved father.
The real murderer is his wicked uncle, who wants to steal the throne, but little Simba believes the lie spun by his evil relative and gives away his right to the kingship. For years he lives under the bondage of that untruth until one day he realises that he really is the Lion King and that a great and powerful destiny belongs to him. He returns to take back what is rightfully his.
Believing the lies or rumours spread by other people, especially those who are envious of your conviction to pursue a better life, can take away your motivation. Be careful.
The people who are most vulnerable to failure are those who lack a healthy sense of identity. It is imperative that you understand who you are, what you are, why you are meant to be, where you are going. You are a unique person, a one of a kind, with a special worth and the ability to make a huge impact on the lives of those around you. Believe it. It’s true.
What can you motivate yourself to do today that you haven’t done before?
What is the cause that propels you forward?
What is your target?
Your life ambition?
What steps are you taking to reach that dream?
What books are you reading?
What audios/Podcasts are you listening to?
What people are you hanging around?
Whose voices are you listening to?
When you know who you are and where you’re going you won’t lose time and energy seeking constant reaffirmation from others. You’ll be able to look failure in the face, regroup and move on after your dream.
Regardless of your past, you have a dynamic future waiting for you – AND YOU DESERVE IT!
TAKE ACTION
- Have you ever felt like a failure? (It’s not necessary to make a list. If you’re like me you could write your own book on that subject.)
- What did you learn from past mistakes?
- Did that knowledge help you to face new challenges?
- What new attitudes have you discovered towards failure as a result of reading this chapter?
- How will you handle failure in the future?
A QUICK LOOK AT FAILURE
- Failure is NOT final.
- One failure doesn’t mean you have to quit everything. One bad day won’t affect your whole life.
- Don’t bog down in your mistakes and pitch your tent there.
- You only have to succeed one more time than all the times you’ve failed in order to make progress.
Live life.
-David
