The Key to Success is Failure
By: Willie Johnson “The Ambassador of Potentiality”
Throughout my life and career – I have found that too many people give up too easily. When confronted by something new, many people try a couple of times and without experiencing success, they walk away. They write it off as something they will never be good at, and or something they were not born to do. However, the reality is this: ability is rarely the deciding factor in success. A person can be born with all the ability in the world, however, if they are not willing to hone their skill, or to practice long after others have quit, they will never experience the satisfaction of putting their natural gifts to use successfully.
I feel that we have a strange view of failure. We come at it from the wrong direction. We view failure as a stop sign instead of a textbook. Failure is a fantastic way of learning, however, we have to be willing to embrace it, to celebrate it and realize that failure is an event, not a person. Oh sure, we all experience setbacks when we experience a failure; however, as my good friend Willie Jolley says, “A setback is only a setup for a comeback”. So you see – we must be willing to embrace failure and learn from it, and let that learning propel us forward. Always remember that failing at something doesn’t mean you are a failure as a person; it means you have room to improve.
I have experienced and witnessed failure a lot over my lifetime and career. I know a lot about it. I know that most people do not give themselves enough opportunity to fail because they fear it. Must I remind us that “FEAR” is nothing more than “False Evidence Appearing Real”. Therefore, we must embrace failure for the gift that it is – an opportunity to learn and to grow; as a person. The same goes for business and organizations, because failure is necessary to innovation and leadership. True and inspiring leaders know that if they don’t encourage failure, their competition is going to take away their market share.
As I wrap up this article – let me leave you with this: Failing successfully is not just a metaphor; it is the key to success. If you are not failing, you are not growing. And if you are not growing, you are not writing new scripts. Therefore I close by saying – celebrate your successes and embrace your failures as a means of learning a better way to achieve your goals.
Fail successfully and you’ll succeed.