Magnificent Monday -it is magnificent to be able to fail and keep moving.
Each Magnificent Monday thoughout the month of December has been devoted to the idea of taking action in spite of other things convenient excuses not to take action. Previous Magnificent Mondays have covered the topics of:
Future articles will deal with the topics:
- you have a full plate but move
- using your accountability group to help you move
Today, the Magnificent Monday article deals with the idea that you have failed before, but move!
Sometimes, the thing that keeps a person from taking action and moving forward is the knowledge that she has failed before. The past failure often causes a person to feel as if she shouldn’t take a chance and attempt a great a wonderful thing again. It may seem counter intuitive, but it is because a person has failed in the past that she should go for it and take action now. It has often been said that before making the final version of the incandescent light bulb, Thomas Edison made almost 200 different versions. When asked what is was like to have failed 200 times, Jefferson replied that he did not fail, but found 200 ways not ot make an incandescent light bulb. That is the attitude you should take when fear of past failures makes you hesitant to take action in the present. You should always find a way to look at failure as an opportunity for improvement. In other words, each time you do not successfully complete your mission, you have learned a way not to complete the mission.
Look for example at a child that is learning to walk. That child will start and fall, start and fall, and start and fall many times before learning to walk. The interesting thing about the child learning to walk is that she will try over and over, no mattter how many times she falls. Each time she gets up, she learns a little something about how not to walk. Eventually she has enough knowldge from her failed attempts and she is able to walk and eventually to run. I have raised four children and have encountered numerous others. I have never heard of a child who tried to walk and after a few hundred failed attempts decided she was never going to try again. No matter how often a child lerning to walk falls, she will continue to get up and try again and again until she has achieved her mission and is walking. Let that be your example.
It is a magnificent thing to learn and truly believe that no matter how many times you fail, you can get back up and try again and that eventually you will succeed. The difference between success and failure is often just getting the right mental attitude. So, the question for you this Magnificent Monday is how do you find ways to turn failure into eventual success?
