“The more you fail in the direction you wish to take toward success, the closer you are actually getting to achieving the success you desire.”
Mitch Tublin
When I said this at a workshop for an organization in 2010, one or two of these Senior Executives and High Prospect Managers attending nodded in agreement and acknowledgement. The others in the group, about two dozen, looked either in shock or grimaced at the thought of failing as a positive.
“It’s okay”, I thought to myself, “this is good. You will add value today and help this group change the way they think about failure.”
After all many of us have throughout our lives been taught and have been witnesses to events where we recognized failure as it’s defined.
For Example:
- lack of success
- the omission of expected or required action
Now here’s the thing – we can jump in right now and address this definition and give numerous examples from history and our recent past from sports, politics, businesses, marriages, movies and more in our discussion or we can address this instead:
- What is the real agenda?
- What is the true purpose?
- What is the desired outcome?
Let’s think about this for a moment – Results!
Isn’t it results that are the desired outcome, the true purpose and the real agenda?
Does the path to obtain results have to be a perfect straight line right to results every single time, if ever?
Being clear – as long as you are true to your values, the company policies and values, no one is hurt or injured and nothing illegal is done and the results are achieved on time or sooner –
What is the problem with failure along the way?
You’ve probably heard the often quoted story used regarding failure about Thomas Edison failing over 1,000 times to create the light bulb.
Here’s some additional facts and quotes related to that story which are rarely shared and are really worth knowing.
Edison tried about two thousand materials seeking a filament for the light bulb. This ordeal so frustrated his assistant, who said, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”
Edison replied, “Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot. We now know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb.”
A reporter once asked Edison, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?”
Here’s Edison’s response, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
Great answer – right?
Consider this – Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything. He was fired from his first two jobs for being ‘non-productive’. Thomas Edison is considered to be one of the best inventors of our time.
Next time you or someone who works for you is facing failure – Think about what this means and what is being learned and move forward.
Mitch Tublin is an entrepreneur and founder of Wenkroy International LLC, a boutique consulting company with a main focus of adding value to people. Through speaking, training and coaching clarity is achieved and distractions are reduced. People now focus on what matters most. My passion is to take people to the next level in their life and in their career and business.
