Failure is Success: 8 Failures You Won’t Believe!
I failed a lot in my life.
But I make it a point to learn from every failure. Failure is success. That’s my motto.
In 1972, when I was 12 years old, I ran away from home, but came back to protect my sister from my father (whatever you are thinking, it was worse). I successfully protected her from his anger, but at great personal cost to myself.
In high school, I was turned down several times when trying to find a date for the prom. Wow, did I feal like a failure. No one liked me enough to go to the prom with me? To make matters worse, my mom made it clear that she was very disappointed that I didn’t go – it was one of her dreams, I guess.
I disappointed my mother yet again in 1978 by entering a career of Geology – she wanted me to be a doctor and she made it clear I was a disappointment. I felt like a failure.
I dropped out of college in 1981. Even though I got a good job (that was why I dropped out), I still felt like a failure.
That was a big disappointment to my parents, who snubbed their nose at my new technical job. I felt like a failure.
I quit a company that I loved in 1986 because it was about to go under. I felt like a failure. But I learned that failure is success because I used the lessons to become better.
I left a job in 1987 due to I was working 2 jobs and couldn’t take the stress. My boss, the CEO, has not talked to me since. I felt like a failure.
I resigned that job in 1993 to work at Trader Joe’s. I loved the job, but it was time to go. I felt like a failure.
I’ve had numerous failures in my life, and if I focused on them, I would break down and cry.
In 2000, our systems crashed, and my disaster recovery plans didn’t work. That was a major failure. But I learned and redesigned the plans to be better.
in 2005, my wife passed away after 12 1/2 years of marriage. She had severe asthma, smoked, and suffered from COPD. It was a bad combination that caught up with her. I felt guilty because I felt I had failed to get her to stop smoking, which may have saved her life.
in 2008, I traveled up to the Fresno renaissance festival. I arranged for three models to meet me there for a photoshoot. Unfortunately, my computer systems crashed hard, and I spent the day on the phone working with my consultant to get things running again. Wow, did I feel like a failure.
in 2013, I walked out of my job at Trader Joe’s and left a 33 year-long tech career to become a ghostwriter.
I could have fixated on all those failures. I could have become a victim and decided not to do anything with my life. In other words, I could have failed even more.
Failure is Success
Instead, I learned from each failure.
Each time I failed, even when I was 12 years old, I look at what happened and learned any lessons that I could and moved on.
Failure is a normal part of life. Believe it or not, as long as you learn, failure is success.
We all fail.
I’ve failed. You have and you will fail.
The problem is not the failure.
The problem, and the answer, is what you do with the failure.
Learn.
Become better.
Change your life.
Don’t be like those who hurt you.
That’s what you do with failure.
One important step is to hire or find the right coach (or coaches) to help you with good advice. I’ve found a good coach can mean the difference between success and failure.
How have you failed in your life – and what did you learn from that?
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