Failing to Fail

Failure is part of life. Failure is good. I have failed plenty of times at plenty of different things, and my life has been the better because of it. Failure is an opportunity to learn and should be viewed as a positive rather than a negative. That doesn't mean it hurts any less, but rather than dwelling on those feelings of uselessness and defeat, we should channel them into something more productive.

I remember the first time I even heard the concept that failure was not a bad thing. I was 27 or 28 years old!! I was reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. He talked about failure and how it was an opportunity to learn. It was at that point, I looked back on all my failures and realized all of the things I had learned not to do. My life was better because I had learned that some things didn't lead to a better life. From then on, I couldn't look at my failures as negatives because I allowed them to teach me.

I recently had a conversation with a friend that was down because his life was not what he envisioned. He had failed to reach some of his goals through a series of life choices both in and out of his control. I felt bad for him, but I also realized that sometimes our failures cause a permanent change in the course of our lives. There are some failures that we cannot recover from. They cannot be fixed or undone. To deal with these instances, we must refocus our lives on what is important. SLou has been so instrumental in helping me find what was important in life. Once I focused on building personal relationships and having a happy family, the other problems of life did not seem as important. My failure to become rich and famous so far in my life, helped me to realize that I already had that which made me most happy.

Most things we try in life are not going to result in success. This morning, I attempted to win some Christmas money on the radio. This radio station is rather large and I have never had more than a busy signal. I was about to stop dialing when the thought hit, "I won't win if I don't try." Well.....I kept dialing and I finally got a ring and another and another, about 30 in total. Then the line busied out. I could have been distraught because I didn't win. However, I was way to stoked on the lesson I finally realized. If I don't try I won't win. That made my day. I could have been upset I wasn't caller #10, but I had actually gotten past the busy signal stage so I was excited. (Not head over heals excited because $200 would have been nice, but excited none the less.) This insignificant little example really isn't important in the grand scheme of things, but it does teach the principles we can apply to more weighty matters.

Failing to fail is just giving up. You can't accomplish anything if you don't try. Does failure hurt? Yes! Is it any less disappointing? No! If it wasn't disappointing then we wouldn't be motivated to succeed. The test is in how we deal with it. Our culture has set the precedent that failure is bad and that you are less of a person for not accomplishing your goals. That is a sad state of being. To always be depressed because life threw at you a chance to learn and grow. The plant that grows strongest is the one that has had to dig its roots deep to reach the water. The one that has had to grow thick and strong to stay standing in the storm. The one that has grown to reach toward the light. Do not be discouraged over failure, simply learn from it and grow. No go out and fail!!