One of the many points that I am seeing over and over again recently is this one about how failure is directly tied into success. It’s a lesson that successful people have been sharing for so many years and it’s also the message that many of us are slow to grasp onto.
It doesn’t matter where you look in life as to who has had success – it can be in athletics, business, medicine, law, education, etc., the message is loud and clear: Failure is part of success!
Most of us look at failure as something to stay away from. Something to avoid at all cost like it is a bad thing that won’t help us out. Now, don’t get me wrong – we don’t need to go out looking to fail over and over again without learning the valuable lessons that are there within the failure event. Yes, sometimes the failures will indeed hurt and cause us problems that if given the choice, we would much rather not have to deal with. But if we can see the value of the lessons within failing, we can use that to propel us to getting things done that will lead to the outcomes that we want to have.
Another key in this – it’s a good idea to know what we want to have in life. We need the goals and dreams to go after every day. If we have those things that are burning inside of us, things we want to accomplish and spend our time doing; that is a tremendous factor that is needed to view failures as necessary to accomplish those things.
I heard a great podcast this morning on my way into work from John Maxwell. He said there is a distinct difference with those people that are working in a career and making a living, compared to those that are chasing after things tied into their passion and purpose in life. I agree. When failures and tough times hit someone who is just making a living, it’s very easy to see why people give up in life. On the flip side, when people hit failures, challenges, and difficulties in life while chasing their passions, dreams and purposes in life; that’s a whole different ball game! Many times the failures, challenges and difficulties are fuel for the fire for building a life of significance and not just making a living.
Which side do you want to be on? What are the failures, challenges and difficulties in your life? Are they leading you to lessons that you can learn and get better from? Are they helping you to get inspired to continue to chase after those things that are in your heart and keep you up at night with excitement? Or are just like the many of people that are ticked off at life, blaming others for your circumstances and you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel that at least is not an oncoming train? With hearing this message about failures so often recently, I know I need to ramp up my learning that’s for sure. How about you?