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What's your definition of failure?
Before I give you my definition I want you to stop for a second and think about your personal definition of failure.
Is your definition of failure not accomplishing something you set out to do? If this is the case, then every “successful” person you’ve ever heard of is a failure. People typically don’t get things right the first time they attempt them, or the second, third, or fourth time for that matter.
Thomas Edison is said to have tried at least ten thousand different ways to perfect the incandescent light bulb. When asked about his failures he simply replied “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I found references that this number is actually 1,000 and others reported the number of attempts to be closer to 3,000, but the important thing to take away from this is he did not give up. Remind yourself of this fact the next time you think you’ve failed and tell yourself “I’ve just learned another way not to do _________. “
Thomas Edison was also fired from his first job as a telegraph operator (for inventing on the job) and had to live in his mentor’s basement. At the time people probably said “That Edison kid sure is a failure. No job, no money, and he’s living in Frank Pope’s basement.” Yet Edison went on to become one of the most prolific inventors in history, filing over 1,093 patents. His name is synonymous with light bulbs even though he didn’t invent the light bulb, or even come up with the idea to use a filament element. He improved on the design of the light bulb and went on to form a company to manufacture light bulbs and distribute the electricity necessary to power them.
If you read my previous article “Ready to start your own business?” you’ll find Edison accomplished with his company 4 out of the 5 elements of a successful business: he improved on an existing design, marketed to an underserved or new market, came up with a new delivery system or distribution channel, and increased integration. The company he founded, Edison Electric Light Company, is still in business to this day although you know it now as General Electric (GE).
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve had the pleasure of giving a talk on failure to about 5,000 school children between the ages of 10 – 12 over a 5 year period when I ran a DoD funded science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program for geting kids interested in careers in science and engineering. One of the things I did with every group was break them up into random teams and give them seemingly impossible tasks to perform. When we would evaluate how each team did I would ask them “So did you fail?” and they would invariably respond “Well, duh! Of course we failed!” I would always tell them “Try it again and tell me what you learned” and they would go back into their groups, discuss what worked and didn’t work, and eventually come back with a better way of accomplishing the task.
What I wanted to convey to them was failure is not the end of the world if you learn from it.
My definition of failure for them was giving up, not learning from their experiences, or not trying at all.
“One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” – Henry Ford
Many of us have lost money in the stock market, had failed business ventures, bad real estate investments, foreclosures, layoffs, etc. Does this mean we’re failures? Or failures in as far as investing, business, or our careers are concerned? Having not succeeded at any one of these things doesn’t define you as a person, they’re simply life events you need to learn from.
If you’ve lost money in the stock market it may have been because you didn’t fully understand your investments, weren’t diversified, received some bad advice, was following the crowd, etc. The important thing to do is understand what happened and make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice. The worst thing you could do is give up on your investments and settle for something ultra-safe with low returns, like US Treasuries or low-interest savings accounts. Educate yourself on your investments and really try to understand what’s going on with your money. There are tons of online resources, books, and personal finance blogs you can use to get up to speed. I also have a series of articles on financial analysis you might want to consider reading.
This holds true for anything else you may have “failed” at; once you’re over the initial shock take some time to objectively evaluate what happened, learn from your experience, then take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Remember Einstein’s definition of Insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
I’ll leave you with a short video explaining how Michael Jordan was one of the greatest failures in the history of basketball. Enjoy!
What do you think about this definition of failure? And what is your definition of failure? Have you had any major failures that turned into learning experiences? I look forward to reading your answers.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag is the video I love that relates to this. Love the quotes, what I would add is I wonder how many people were just one step, one day, one idea, or one thought away from success when they quit. How many successful people took a quitter's idea, dream, or failed inspiration and drove it home for success. Don't quit, don't miss your opportunities,and don't be left out of your dreams.
A book I'd recommend on this subject is John Maxwell's Failing Forward. He describes the major difference between achieving people and average people is their perception of and response to failure.
Again, great article!!!!
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That's an awesome video, Jeff. I've added the video below so everyone else can watch:
[youtube _tjYoKCBYag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tjYoKCBYag youtube]
And here's the link to John Maxwell's book on Amazon:
Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=mbacom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0785288570" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />
Excellent point about people being one step away from success and then giving up – I wish I'd thought to include that in the article. Thanks for the comment!
My recent post The definition of FAILURE
Great article David. I never knew Edison lived in his mentors basement. I wonder how the Waikiki project will fail…. hmmm
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Failure is not an option! If this article generates enough traffic I'm thinking about doing a motivational theme for Mondays – "Motivational Monday". We'll try to plan as best as we can and if something doesn't work we'll change (I mean you'll change and I'll watch). I think you've found a great niche and once you conquer Waikiki you can move on to the next tourist area.
My recent post The definition of FAILURE
I love that attitude David. It's true that people often get discouraged at failure and stop trying to reach their goals. It's sad. So for today's animal metaphor I bring you the Osprey, a beautiful bird of prey, who hunts on water. The osprey hits the top of the water trying to grab a fish and only succeeds 50% of the time on average. If he gave up, when he failed, he would starve. Failure is part of nature's intention that us keep trying and improving.
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Awesome comment, Tracy. Tomorrow we'll find another animal to talk about and we can add the Oh My
The Osprey is a great example, it's hardwired into his brain to overcome failure even though he only has 50/50 odds of success. Jim Rohn also gave the example of a baby learning to walk and asked "How long would you give a baby to learn how to walk?" We have to learn failure (I think I read that somewhere).
My recent post The definition of FAILURE
Very inspirational post and followup video. Failure is such a taboo word today that we'd much rather be comfortable being mediocre. And you're so right about the babies learning to walk example. I look at my baby and wonder how long it would have taken me to give up if I landed on my bottom that many times. I think we subconciously redifine many things as we get older much to our detriment.
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I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for the comment. I was terrified of failure until I learned it was the only way I was going to get better at anything, and it was a liberating experience to realize you have to fail repeatedly in order to succeed. It's like the crass joke about the guy in a bar who gets slapped by 9 out of 10 girls he comes on to, "…but that 10th girl!"
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Great post! I learned a lot about Edison today! When I was in school, you learned about the founding fathers and great investers like Edison and Einstein. The impression that I came way with was this past leaders were perfectly great. The teachers didn't talk about their faults and failures…
I think if schools focused on the failures great historic people had to overcome, it would give students confidence to be creatively braver!
I wish I read this article when I was 16
Good point, Don. It's funny how any "successful" public figure whose past you dig into is going to be rife with failures but the history books and the media usually only talk about the successes. I think it's very motivating to learn about the struggles and failures others had to go through before becoming successful.
Thanks for the comment!
My recent post The definition of FAILURE
David this is blasphemy. Didn't you know that in today's society everyone is a winner? Everyone gets a trophy and award and a passing grade. Heck, companies are getting bailed out and mortgages are being reduced. Nobody has to worry about failure because nobody can fail! Sorry for the sarcasm but I think you post illustrates the rational approach to development of self responsibility as opposed to what is really happening in society. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! What I was hoping to get across is in order to win big sometimes you have to fail big. The attitude that everyone's a winner breeds a culture of mediocrity.
I think some of the bail outs were absolutely necessary but we've gone overboard with Federal hand outs. The government is giving the impression life has a safety net and as a knee jerk reaction will find ways to legislate away all "risky" investments.
I appreciate the comment!