Success and Failure, Which Side of the Coin Do You See?
I came across this old contest entry tonight and thought that it had a message worth reviving, I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do.
As an entrepreneur I know that anyone who is not willing to risk failure is never going to encounter any success either, and the same goes for life in general, an overprotected person will not risk having relationships or doing much of anything.
Bill Bartmann always talks about how Failure and Success are like a two sided coin and that you cannot have one without the other. And he also emphasizes that when we do fail, success will be here soon as long as we keep trying. Bill even gave me a cool little gold coin with Success on one side and Failure on the other to remember this reality.
A decade ago an old college friend was speaking to me about how he was depressed, and he mentioned that he was upset that after all of these years of hard work we were both middle aged failures. I replied that I knew that I was not a failure, and wondered why he thought that he was.
I realized then that maybe his attitude of looking at the world from a failures perspective could be impacting his life and creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Maybe this was why his business was failing and mine was doing well. Maybe this was why he recently suffered his third divorce and I was enjoying a lifelong honeymoon with the same lovely wife. Maybe this was why many other things were going well for me yet not so well for him.
I have been mulling this question over all month in preparation for this contest, I have had many setbacks in my lifetime, but the only possible failure that is likely to befall me is if I ever accept any of my little troubles and setbacks as a Failure.
Something that I Will Never Accept!
pic credit Businessman Showing Idea On White Board" by pakorn http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/agree-terms.php?id=100138527
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