I am not afraid of failure!

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat” -Theodore Roosevelt

It’s 12 midnight already, am about to pack up my laptop and go to sleep, but not just quite yet, I have some thoughts from the events of today that have been inspirational for me, and I think it’s good I share. I have quit trying to please all, trying to please all is one of the sure ways to fail. He who will please all will lose his donkey.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody”  Bill Cosby

There is a world of difference between saying I have failed three times and saying I am a failure. Failing is the birthing place of success.  Some of the things I have done lately has won a lot of applause, and a number of boos.  The worst that can happen is that I fail, but then, I would never be listed amongst the cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat from not haven tried. I’ll rather be an exemplary failure, than some of the timid souls whose specialization is running commentaries about the lives of others. It’s extremely easy to turn the vegetables in the pot with ones tongues…”he could have done like this…”

My quest for personal development and success has given me the opportunity of reviewing the thoughts of many successful people about failure. Some of these thoughts are heartwarming and outright motivating.

1. To do and fail is better than not doing at all..

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly” – Robert F. Kennedy

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing” – George Bernard Shaw

“The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed”  -Lloyd Jones

Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from taking action. You are better off trying and failing than living in the shadows all your life, wondering what would have happened if you had just taken the chance. Many of the people whose opinion matters so much to you, will end up doing things contrary to what you think their opinions are today.

2.  Failure is the university of the successful

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” -Colin Powell

“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery” – Samuel Smiles

“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes” – John Dewey

There is a lot to learn from failure, from the failure of others, and from one’s own experiences with failure.  It’s one thing to fail, it’s another thing to learn from it. Successful people master the art of failing forward, of falling and not staying down, of failing and taking instructions from it.

3. There is no need giving excuses for failure

“A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him” -Elmer G. Letterman

The day an adult begins to claim someone else is responsible for his/her misfortune, he/she’s making failure a bus-stop rather than a junction.  Failure shouldn’t be a bus stop, it should be a junction, a decision making and learning point.

There are 4 types of people who are likely to make failure their bus stops. They are

1.  The undecided – If you can’t make up your mind about a venture or what you want to do with your life, you are not likely to succeed. Successful people think quickly and decide on time.

2. The unfocused –  If you are trying to achieve too many things at the same time, the odds are against you. He that pursues two rats will catch none.  When vision becomes two it’s called di-vision. A dog doesn’t get so courageous that it watches over two houses.

3. The unlearned – “what you don’t know can’t kill you” – That’s a lie per excellence. What you don’t know will kill, maim and hurt you. We are in an information driven age, your sphere of opportunity is your sphere of knowledge. The greatest killer in the world today is not knowing.

4. The unexcited – Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. You will succeed easily at what you are passionate about. Your goals must be such as keep you late at night and wake you up early in the morning. The unexcited make failure a bus-stop!

Don’t fear failure… face it!