Failure is not an option!

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. -– George Bernard Shaw

"Failure is not an option" was the tag line for the film, "Apollo 13." In fact, if you go to the souvenir shop at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, you can purchase shirts, license plates, bumper stickers, and so on with this quote emblazoned on them.

Okay, I'll confess. I bought a license plate that now hangs on the wall of my office. What if we modify this statement and instead ask, "Is failure an option?" If you think about it carefully you will find that the answer is Yes! I'm guessing that many of you are surprised by my answer. I'll also bet that many of you are terrified of failure, so much to the degree that you would never attempt to try anything new -- no matter how small or large.

Let me ask you this…if you aren't willing to risk and make mistakes, how will you ever learn and grow? Failure is part of the process of learning anything. You can gain far more knowledge from failure, much more than from your successes and triumphs. You will more often find out what will work by learning from your mistakes. When you begin to work on any new venture, you are going to run into difficulties.

Those who are successful in overcoming failure never lose their nerve, go to pieces, or lose control of themselves. And they never give up on finding a solution. They also never define themselves as a failure. The most successful people fail well and fail gracefully. Look at any great inventor, and you will find that they failed far more than they succeeded. When you look at the very best athletes, you will find many who lose more contests than they win.

Or salespeople who are the very best at what they do. They know that for every sale they make, they will experience far more rejections. In the same way that you learn to win, learn to fail. When you realize that failure is a normal part of life and learning, you will be more accepting of yourself, and your self-esteem and outlook will improve.

Amar Gopal Bose, the founder of Bose Corporation, said, "No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward." Change your approach to thinking of failure as being equal to a negative outcome. We all fail. If you can learn from, rather than break under, the pressure of failure, you will achieve far more than those that do not.

Thanks Sifu Charles Chi

Anthony Pasquale
AJP Enterprise
A Mindful Wealth Group
United Martial Arts Center
Osanna Seminars

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"It's remarkable, how much mediocrity we live with, surrounding ourselves with daily reminders that the average is acceptable. Our world suffers from terminal normality. Take a moment to access all the things around you that encourage you to remain "average". These are the things that keep you powerless, unable to go beyond a limit you have arbitrarily set for yourself."