Robert A.
Jun 5,2008
In: The Human

How failures can make you smile

Image source: extranoise

Are you feeling like quitting after failure?

Failure happens to all of us, no one is an exception. It’s not a mater of whether you will fail or not, it’s a matter of what you’re going to do with your failure. Quitting is not always the right answer… Here is a post that I write to encourage you facing your failure and soar above them.

What is failure?

Failure is an event, not a person.
~Zig Ziglar

Zig Ziglar got it right, failure is just an event, yet many generalized it as if it is the person. How many times do people say, “I am a failure”, or judging others “he/she is useless”? Looking deeper, failure is only a part of the time you spend on earth. You can choose to look into the successes and great things that have happened in your life. As Joel Osteen’s analogy, we can look at the donut instead of the hole within. We can look at our strengths and successes instead of our weaknesses and failures.

I’m tempted to quit
Juggling personal commitment, work and career, social life and leisure, while continuing this blog is not easy. There are so many things in mind that I have no time to start, not counting the mistakes that I have made. The slowness of how my readership is growing can easily discourage me. Yes, it does tempt me to quit and stop working on this blog.

As I write this post, it encourages me to continue on, to persist, and look beyond the failure. If I want, I can choose to look into 100 over readers that have subscribed and I can be thankful for that. I can consider it as a success instead of failure. Why then giving up? As one saying has ever stated, winners are not those who never fail but those who never quit.

I hope this post will encourage you too, to see what lies beyond failure and more…

Beyond failure…

Brick wall is there to show you one thing, how hard you want it to happen.
~Randy Pausch

photo credit: Steven Fernandez

Beyond your failure, there are meanings. There are reasons and purposes attached to them. As Randy Pausch mentioned, the brick wall you face is there to show how persistent you are. Joel Osteen also summed up this principle clearer, that… “Everything happens not to you, but for you.” Doesn’t that show a higher perspective that all of us can look into? That beyond failure, there is meaning we can look into.

Beyond meaning…

I do not believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.
~Oprah Winfrey via Confident1 (Fear of Failure)

What is the significance of having the meaning? It helps you to enjoy and to be thankful. Enjoying the failure? That sounds crazy! Nope, it’s not enjoying the failure, it is enjoying the process. If you did enjoy the process, then you will not think that your failure was a wasted time, instead it is a lesson we all can learn from.

Together with the quote above, David shared an article on the fear of failure that I found very helpful. Inside, he also shared an inspiring video. You can watch the video at the end of this post. One statement from the video, “if you never fail, you never live.”

Beyond enjoyment…

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once,
but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
~Bruce Lee, American-born Hong Kong Actor, Martial Artist & Instructor

photo credit: pasotraspaso

Practicing one kick for 10,000 times!? Imagine what the trouble that may come. First, people are getting bored, getting sick of practicing the kick. Second, people are getting worried and fearful, what if that will never work, what if you are spending your time, money and energy just for one useless “kick.”

One blogger that taught me a lesson on persistence is Raymond Chua. I met him once for dinner. Besides his enthusiasm and his many achievements despite of his young age, I admire his persistence. He shared about his commitment to post an article everyday within a year. I don’t think it is easy to be kept. Along the way, there will be temptation to do other things rather than posting an article everyday. He is tempted to post longer and less frequent post. He might be tempted to spend more time networking or other marketing stuffs. He might even be tempted with many other things, yet he sticks with his commitment. When he found anything extra is necessary; he will get creative and plan it around his commitment. With this kind of persistence, I believe he will be a blogger that many will be “feared” of =).

Beyond persistence…

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
~Winston Churchill

Beyond persistence is enthusiasm. Without them it will be just a routine or regularities. Instead of going through them with passion, you will be doing it with much burden. Without enthusiasm, you may persist for a little while, but you will not be staying long enough.

How do you stay enthusiastic? It is when you do things not just merely for doing it. It is when you have goals behind your action and you stick your eyes on them. With the goals in your mind, you will easily attach meaning to the action you are doing. I guess this is also something that I have forgotten for many times. Ask yourself what is your vision, what do you hope behind every persistence action that you have? Is it just for merely doing things? Is it just merely to gain more money, more fame, or more readers? What will you do when you gain them?

One article that inspired me again is taken from Scott H. Young, What’s Your Exit Strategy? Without the exit strategy, without any plan after your plan is finished, you will easily make many mistakes. Do read the article to learn more. One important point I want to reiterate, begin with the end in mind!

Beyond enthusiasm…

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
~Thomas Alva Edison

Isn’t that an amazing perspective towards failure? Despite of all our persistence and enthusiast to pursue our goal again and again, there has to be a process of evaluation. When you fail, it is important to check yourself, what have you learn from the experience? How can you do it differently? How can you grow from this point? What you can do now with all that you have to fix it? Those are the evaluations you need to do.

One article shared a thought-provoking insight. It shared that, instead of enthusiasm, boredom can be more useful in helping you to grow, to be creative and getting better. Check out the article… Boredom Can Be Good for You. And I really have to thank Derrick Kwa for sharing the article via Google Reader.

Beyond competence…

We… rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope.
~Apostle Paul in his letter to Romans (Romans 2:2b-4)

photo credit: Will Foster

Beyond competence, there is another side of growth that you must have, that is the character. While competence can be learned, character needs to be developed. While competence is what the tip of the iceberg is, character is the unseen huge part below. It does not come naturally; it comes when you are willing to change. Sometimes you have to get rid your old habit, old mindset and ego, your belief and many other things. It is the price that you pay, and often we can only realize that through our failures, our suffering and perseverance.

And there is hope…

What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.
~Emil Brunner

And the last but not the least, keep on reminded that we have hope. And that hope will not disappoint us!
Remember, winners are not those who never fail but those who never quit!

If you have any experience with failure and how it changes you, please share in the comments.
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For your success,
Robert

And here is a very inspiring video on failure…