What is Failure Anyway?
By Nan S. Russell |
Does it surprise you that only 400 cokes were sold the first year; Albert
Einstein's Ph.D. dissertation was rejected; Henry Ford had two bankruptcies
before his famous success; or Ulysses S. Grant was working as a handyman,
written off as a failure, eight years before becoming President of the United
States?
Rodin couldn't get into art school on three occasions yet became
a great sculptor; Abraham Lincoln lost seven elections before winning the
Presidency; Babe Ruth stuck out 1,330 times in route to hitting 714 home runs;
and Oprah Winfrey publicly failed several diet attempts before becoming an
inspiration for looking great after fifty.
Setbacks, disappoints,
rejections and unsuccessful attempts were not failures to these people. They
were steps to their success. That's the difference between people who are
winning at working and people who aren't. How you deal with your setbacks (big
or small) will determine your results. You see, failure is not the lack of
success. Failure is staying down when you trip or stumble. It's giving up,
checking out, or shutting down.
I wasn't a failure when I was fired from
my first professional job, although for awhile I felt like one, and I could have
been if I'd lost my confidence and given up on my career aspirations. I wasn't a
failure when I was passed over for a coveted promotion I'd worked years for, but
I could have been if I'd let that setback determine my future. And I wasn't a
failure every time I pitched an idea that got turned down, but I could have been
if I'd stopped pitching ideas.
You see, in twenty years in management,
for every "yes" I've gotten in my career that's visible, there's least five
"no's" that aren't. For every success I've achieved, there's at least as many
misses. Yet when we look at other people's successes, we miss the struggles,
frustrations and disappointments that came before them, so we think their
success was easy.
How you view your disappointments, falls, and setbacks
will impact your success. Do you see them as stepping stones or brick walls?
People who are winning at working live Ralph Waldo Emerson's words, "Men succeed
when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their
victories."
People who are winning at working don't blame others for
what's happened to them, and they don't use other people's definitions for
success and failure. They use their own. They know it's not failing to miss
their mark, change paths, re-assess goals, try something new or adjust
direction. To them, failure happens when they stop trying to achieve their
personal best.
(c) 2005 Nan S. Russell. All rights
reserved.
About the Author
Sign up to receive Nan's free eColumn, Winning at Working, at http://www.winningatworking.com Nan Russell has spent
over twenty years in management, most recently with QVC as a Vice President.
Currently working on her first book, Nan is a writer, columnist, small business
owner, and instructor.
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