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September 5 - September 5, 2018
realize failure is essential to success.
Matson says his students learned to equate failure with innovation instead of defeat, and it freed them up to get out of their comfort zone and try new things.
“I would never promote a person into a high-level job who was not making mistakes…. Otherwise he is sure to be mediocre.”
“The most common trait I have found in successful people is that they conquered the temptation to give up.”
I’m not where I’m supposed to be, I’m not what I want to be, But I’m not what I used to be. I haven’t learned how to arrive; I’ve just learned how to keep on going.
Improvement is achieved in inches, not giant leaps.
“The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so
“There’s never been a day in his life, since I’ve known him, that he didn’t improve in some way.” What an accomplishment! That shows a great commitment to continuous improvement.
“If you study a subject every day for one hour a day, five days a week, in five years you will become an expert in that area.”
What did I learn today? What spoke both to my heart and my head? How did I grow today? What touched my heart and affected my actions? What will I do differently? Unless I can state specifically what I plan to do differently, I won’t learn anything.
We’re successful when we reach for the highest that’s within us—when we give the best we have.
Life doesn’t require us to always come out on top. It asks only that we do our best to improve at whatever level of experience we are currently on.
Knowledge may come from study, but wisdom comes from learning and improving in the wake of your mistakes.
you lose hope, that may be your last loss, because when hope is gone, so is motivation and the ability to learn.
When Winston Churchill was asked what was England’s greatest weapon versus the Nazis, he responded with one word: hope.
“Everything lost except wife, children, and hope. Business will be resumed as usual tomorrow morning.”2
Hope is in the DNA of men and women who learn from their losses. When times are tough, they choose hope, knowing that it will motivate them to learn and turn them from victims into victors.
Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better.
spirit of defeat. Ultimately, helplessness leads to hopelessness.” If
your expectations for life are negative, you end up experiencing a lot of negatives. And those negatives are compounded and become especially painful,
We choose to stay down on the canvas of life, afraid to get up and go another round because we are too beaten down to absorb any more punishment.
What we don’t understand is that most people quit when they are just inches away from their goal. They never realize just how close they actually are to reaching their dream.
He always believed in himself and his ability to get a hit. We should imitate him, because too often our main limitation comes from our expectations.
And hope makes all things possible. Living the expectant life is simply an act of good judgment.
keep hoping, keep trying, and keep learning. Take a look at the difference between what happens when people sense victory and when they sense defeat:
How was Jim Abbott able to learn from his losses? Because he had hope. He kept believing, and he kept trying.
Attitude was found to be far more important than intelligence, education, special talent, or luck.
He went on to define teachability as the ability and willingness to learn and put into practice whatever was needed to accomplish our goals.
Everyone has something to teach me. Every day I have something to learn. Every time I learn something, I benefit.
Becoming and remaining teachable requires people to honestly and openly evaluate themselves on a continual basis. Any time you face a challenge, loss, or problem, one of the first things you need to ask yourself is, “Am I the cause?” This is a key to teachability. If the answer is yes, then you need to be ready to make changes. Otherwise you’re going to experience what one wit called “déjà-poo,” the feeling you’ve been in this mess before.
When you are influential and highly respected, people tend to tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear. They are seeking your approval, or they flatter you.
“I don’t trust anyone with power that can’t be checked,” I answered. “Especially me.”
In science, mistakes always precede discoveries. It is impossible to make discoveries without an accumulation of errors. To a scientist, a mistake is not failure—it’s feedback.
When the lessons we learn come from mistakes, we must first determine if the mistake was due to ignorance or stupidity. Ignorance means we didn’t have the necessary information; stupidity means we had the necessary information but misused it.
I recommend that you set aside thirty minutes at the end of every day to think about the preceding twenty-four hours, contemplating what occurred and what you can learn from it.
They resolve to never make another mistake, which is impossible. They allow their mistake to make them into cowards, which is foolish. Or they make up their minds to learn from their mistake and apply the lesson to their lives, which is profitable.
“Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and then become more extraordinary because of it.”
The pain of adversity never leaves us the same. It is the catalyst for change.
“You never win the gold without hurting.”
I have seen people face the most catastrophic problems with a positive mental attitude, turning their problems into creative experiences. They turned their scars into stars.2
Problems always bring opportunities, and opportunities always bring problems.
A problem isn’t really a problem unless you allow it to be a problem. A problem is really an opportunity. If you can see it that way, then every time you face a problem, you will realize that you’re really faced with an opportunity. At the least, it’s an opportunity to learn. But it could become even more if you pursue solving it with the right attitude.
If you and I want to gain the full benefit from every problem, challenge, and loss, we need to stop looking for the back door and face the difficulty with the determination to gain something from it. Do that, and you can become a hero in your own life.
When you have a bad experience, I hope you will give yourself some grace—whether it’s a matter beyond your control or because you make a mistake. You’re only human, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to be perfect.
One of my favorite stories related to bad experiences is about a man who sent a business friend flowers on the day of his grand opening. However, the order was handled badly by the florist, and the businessman received a bouquet that was intended for a funeral. It was accompanied by a card that said: “My deepest sympathy during this time of sorrow.” When the man called his friend on the phone to wish him well, his friend was confused. “Why in the world did you send me these sympathy flowers?” asked the businessman. The man who had sent the flowers went immediately to the florist to demand an
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“I may have missed that one, but I’m still okay. I can still be a winner!”
Because of the experience you’ve gained, you may even be able to help others who have gone through similar difficulties.
Failure is the cost of seeking new challenges.
If you want to succeed in life, you can’t give up.
Let the Bad Experience Lead You to a Good Experience
