Failure Is An Option

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Like success,  failure can not really be seen.  Yes, you can see people on the street that have “lost” everything.  But have they lost everything, or have they just stopped living?  I know many people who have lost most or all of their monetary value at one time in the past.  Instead of ending up on the street they just started over and have gained back all or more than they lost.

Many people will tell you those that have succeeded are just more fortunate than those that have not.  There is no road that will take you to either place. There are however several things you can do to make sure failure will follow you where ever you go..

Don’t Know What Your Gifts Are

Learning your gifts is probably one of the most time-consuming things you can do, but it will  also pay one of the largest dividends.  Each of us were created with a purpose on our lives. If you do not know what you are good at you can not find your real purpose.  I started speaking ten years ago and that lead to writing which lead to wanting to create a website.  Through this process I discovered I had a knack for technology and could use my speaking and writing to help others start their own websites or hone the ones they already have.  If you refuse to try different things you may never find what you are good at you  will never be a real success.

Don’t Have A Road Map

You can think people are just lucky and believe that fortunate people are the only ones that success visits, but if you don’t know where you are going, you are bound to go no where.  My wife challenged me on this once as she told me she never set a goal to become a nurse.  I asked her when she knew she wanted to be a nurse and she told me eight years old.  She had in her mind from the time she was eight that she was going to be a nurse and no one could tell her otherwise.  Sounds like a road map to me.  While I suggest writing it down as an adult, the mind of a child can form an image so clear it is just like writing it down and reading it everyday.  Not deciding where you want to go is a key to failure and not writing it down will also help.

Don’t Fail

Yes it is true, one of the keys to failing is not ever failing. I know you tried once so it won’t work.  That kind of mentality will ensure complete failure.  If you are too scared to fail, you will never taste success.  Knowing what does not work or what you are capable of doing, is the only way to know what does work and what you can do.  “People are like crabs in a bucket,” says Zig Ziglar, “Once you have two in a bucket they will keep pulling each other down so you never need a lid.”  Realize that people are going to try to pull you down because they want you to fail.  If you succeed they won’t have anyone to be miserable with.  Don’t let others get you down, and don’t be scared to fail as much as it takes to succeed.

Taking Failure Personally

“If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try again.” You know that is not the way the saying goes but it is the way most people think.  If I tried to do “x” before and failed then that is not for me.  Maybe that one thing is not for you or maybe you didn’t know how to do it. Don’t look at it as I failed, look at it as something you learned and may not be good at, but if you take that and combine it with something else it could be the right thing for you.  If you want to fail look at it as the world is set up against you and failure is your destiny.

Below are a few more thing others have written about success and failure.

Image Via Flickr User dannysullivan

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