3 Perspectives for Handling Failure

Regularly, I share quotes on failure or case studies from leaders and role models who were once considered failures by their peers, co-workers, family or nation.

Here are three perspectives for handling failure. I was reminded of them by these Twitterers:

It’s a part of our life.

It’s a part of your life. Mine, too. It’s a part of their life, too. Everyone at one time or another, many times frequently, have failed or been labeled a failure. From our first experiments handling a fork at breakfast, to riding a bike, to our personal relationships to using a computer to leading a family to running a business, our progress has been marked first with failures. Sometimes, lots of them.

Make failure our teacher (It's our choice...)

Those we label a success are those who treat failure as a teacher. The successes, the role models and leaders and heroes, are those who see every failure as a lesson. Each lesson points them closer to their goal: success. Each lesson takes them closer to their goal: success.

And they come early and stay late, hire tutors (coaches and mentors), and attend classes in summer at this school.

I can do the same, here. Can you? Of course.

There is only one path.

You never get there without going through here.  Success is never achieved without failure. Every honest merchant of success knows at some point, maybe many points, they were an abject failure. But, they didn’t quit. They knew it was part of their life, but only part. So was success, as long as they didn’t quit.

Notes:

Who's Nikki Giovanni? ( Hint: Very impressive.)

Tweeters:

mfoneill: Martin Oneill, founder and CEO of Corsum Consulting and author of Building Business Value

ScreamingEagle1: Martin Baines, founder of Eagle Marketing School

Mallikarjunan: Sam Mallikarjunan, co-founder and CMO of My American Health, LLC