The Upside of Failure

The Dividends of Understanding and Embracing Your Failures

No one likes to talk about the dreaded “F” word. No…not that one. The meaning of the word Failure has joined the ranks of words and phrases that traditionally are regarded as lewd or vulgar – to the point that it’s almost taboo to discuss someone’s failures.

But in some arenas, the tide may be shifting a bit. Recognizing that innovation comes only from risk taking and that employees will shy away from experimentation if they fear retribution, some companies have begun rewarding employees courageous enough to seek new, creative ways to solve problems. That concept signals a fundamental shift in perspective about what it means to fail. Under this emerging theory, a failure merely represents a bump in the road toward success and should not be regarded as defeat. Read the Rest of This Article »

How to Make the Laws of the Universe Work in Your Favor

Have you ever had something that you really, really wanted fall unexpectedly into your lap?

Did you think it was a coincidence?

Have you ever noticed that, that seems to happen to some people, all the time?

Is that a coincidence?

Let’s find out:

Read the Rest of This Article »

Are You Still Afraid of Failure?

Fear is like a toxic poison – it seems you can’t get rid of it by any means and it prevents you from living the life you always wanted to live. I was being “poisoned” with fear for myself and continuously worried about the events that might take place in the future, which included – besides many other things – messing up with my grades or not being able to master the defiances of my life. Even though I wasn’t a scared chicken at all, fear remained a part of my thoughts and often prevented me from falling asleep. Generally speaking I would say that all my worries had one thing in common: the fear of failure. Read the Rest of This Article »

How to Use Failure to Succeed

Most people are afraid of failure. Some so afraid that they can’t attempt anything that involves the risk of failure.

But everyone that has ever succeeded did it by failing first. Failure is the precursor to success and the only was to succeed is by showing great persistence.

This is something we all struggle with. When the going gets tough the easiest thing to do, is give up. We have all had the chance to go out on the limb, do something extra that might result in extra ordinary results or in total ruin.

Most of us chose the safe rode, studying, getting a job and just doing what we were required to do. Which is fine, if it is what you want.

If you want to succeed you have to be willing to do something extra. To go beyond the regular restraints and do more. You have to have the guts to pick yourself up after you fall and try again, and again, until you find the right fit. Read the Rest of This Article »

The Number 1 Reason Why Your Life is a Failure

Do you think your life is a failure? Why? Is it because you haven’t accomplished any of your goals? Or because you aren’t financially stable? Don’t have a beautiful home?

People can be very dramatic. We’ll stub our toe on the way out the door in the morning, and exclaim “Life sucks!”

We’ll create a goal to become a self-made millionaire, won’t work very hard to achieve the goal, and then 2 months later when we discover that our checking account has a balance of $3.24, scream, “I can’t do this!! I’m a failure!”

We use the word failure a lot. I’d venture to say we use it too much. And what does this word mean, anyway? What exactly is “failure”? Well, since I don’t know everything (sometimes), let’s consult with the dictionary. Read the Rest of This Article »

What Are You So Afraid Of?

I get a lot of questions from people who read my articles or visit my site asking me if I can give them some specific steps to follow to get started making changes in their lives.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have a step-by-step program for self improvement, so as much as I’d love to help, I can’t really tell them much other than to just get started.

But I’m also happy to give that very simple piece of advice, because getting started is the hardest part of… well, anything. And it’s the most intimidating. There’s a fear of the unknown that likes to creep its way in and it often leads to another overwhelming fear: failure. Read the Rest of This Article »

If You’ve Never Failed, You’ve Never Lived

While it’s fine to build your skills on failures, it’s also important to enhance your soul through accepting your emotions as you have them. Avoid letting the ego take over to make them any more than they were supposed to be.  Experiences breed growth and we crave them bring us joy at a soul level.

When you are on the field of life and you get knocked down pay attention to your next move because for the most part you have three basic choices.

1. Grab your bat and glove and go home.

2. Lay on the field in the fetal position.

3. Get back up to bat.

No matter what you choose, the only outcome I can GUARANTEE from going home or doing nothing is you will never hit that ball out of the park. And life will hunt you down like a dog and find new and better ways to “teach” you what you are avoiding, so best to accept and stop resisting so you can move through it easily.

If you face and embrace the situation, pick yourself up off the ground and get back up to bat you guaranteed one thing: Another chance to swing for the fences to get what you really want. And like my mamma always told me, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” (pretty sure she borrowed that – ha!)

Watch this inspiring video and tell me, where would we be today if these people had chosen to quit?

How Failure Can Accelerate Your Success

Image courtesy of the Dana Foundation

No one actually wants to encounter failure in their life. That’s because when you look at the isolated incident, it means that you haven’t found success. However, with the right attitude, you can use your failure in order to get yourself to success in an accelerated fashion.

Overcoming Failure

The first step to overcoming failure is to accept your situation. Tell yourself that failure is a natural part of life, and that you’re not superhuman so you will fail to succeed at certain junctures in your life.

When you attempt to be too perfect that can just be yet another failure on your part. It’ll cause you stress and you won’t be able to get yourself past to the part of acceptance. You might tell yourself that you’re over it when you really aren’t. You don’t want to be carrying that burden around with you forever. Read the Rest of This Article »

How to Overcome Your Fear of Failure

A fear of failure is one of the most common fears. It can be so scary that some people decide not to try at all in order to avoid failure altogether. In the end this just ends up being another kind of failure because you’ll never reach your full potential if you don’t even try.

Accepting Yourself

An important first step to overcoming fear of failure is accepting yourself. Once you accept yourself, you need to take it one step further and believe in yourself. This will come naturally to some, and some people will find that they need more work.

Think about specific situations in your life that you approached with confidence. That extra belief in yourself was likely the deciding factor between success and failure. You need to use that strong belief in yourself to combat fear.

Keep reminding yourself that success starts in your own mind. You need to have the right attitude because as soon as you don’t believe in yourself then failure is sure to follow. You might start to make excuses for yourself and you may even start blaming others or external sources. The way to get over the fear of failure is to stop making these excuses and take responsibility for your success. Read the Rest of This Article »