Pop quiz: What is the opposite of success?
I’m no psychic, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess that you’d probably say that the opposite of success is failure.
That would be wrong. The opposite of success, as Joe Malarkey (the Worst Motivational Speaker in America) recently reminded me, is doing nothing. Failure is actually an integral part of success. Joe points out that all successful people have failed. They just didn’t stay there very long.
We hate failing. We really hate losing. Most of us go to great lengths to avoid experiencing either.
Everyone who’s ever learned to ride a bike failed. At least a few times. Sometimes so much so that you may have felt like filing a restraining order against the sidewalk. But time and time again, you got back up, slapped a Hello Kitty Band-aid on your knee (just me?), and got back on your bike. With a little coaching, and a little persistence, you found it: success.
Failing isn’t fun. But it’s awfully hard to learn how to ride a bike sitting on your couch.
Hi Jason,
I love that last line – “. But it’s awfully hard to learn how to ride a bike sitting on your couch.”. How true!!
“The way to succeed is to double your error rate.” ~ Thomas J. Watson
Thanks Lance! Sometimes I feel like I’m good at quadrupling my error rate.
Except when it applies to Government. We certainly would prefer they do nothing than fail and waste billions of tax payer dollars.
To me, some failure is acceptable if you learn something in the process, and make adjustments in future attempts.
Wow, great point, Eric. I totally agree with you on that exception to the rule.
Very true. I think success and failure contribute to each other constantly. If people learn from their failures, it can lead to great success. However, some of the people who have failed the most in life–and had the worst cases of adultitis–were people who were so successful that they let their success go to their heads and failed where it really counted.
Steven: A great example of the pitfall of success. No matter how successful we may become, it’s crucial that we always maintain the teachability of a child. It remind me of all the railroad companies that went out of business because they saw the car as a mere novelty. Had they realized that they were in the “travel” business, not the “train” business, they might still be around today.
Hi Jason, I just stumbled upon your site after Jenna Regis (not sure if that name means anything to you) posted a comment on my blog suggesting that I check it out. I love what I see, read and hear! This is great stuff. And this particular post is EXACTLY what I needed to read after a challenging day riddled with self-doubt, and wondering whether I should take the next step toward success (or failure)! Thanks! Keep up the great work guys!
Emily