It is failure only if you think it is
Here's a little bit I found on the Toyota intranet website, and I thought I would share this with everyone. It's a little perspective on how I view life - and maybe others should be a little more optimistic about their challenges.
It is failure only if you think it is
Today, I'm going to try to convince you that regardless of circumstances, there is no such thing as failure. You see, most people have been programmed to be afraid of failure. But I believe that failure, more than anything else, is an attitude.
All of us can remember times when we didn't get the results we wanted - we flunked a test, or put together a business plan that didn't work, or got involved in a romance that turned sour.
But successful people don't think in terms of failure. They think in terms of results they can learn from. If they try something and it doesn't work out, they figure they've had a learning experience, and they take new actions to get new results.
Think about it. What is the one asset, the one benefit you have today that you didn't have in the past? Experience, right? And experience is what you make of it.
Maybe you are afraid of failure, but how do you feel about learning? Fear of failure can stop you before you start. It can stop you from taking the risks you need to take in order to grow. If you redefine failure as learning, as important feedback, there is no longer anything to fear.
Edison tried thousands of different materials before he found the right filament for the electric light bulb. When asked why he didn't quit, he said, "Why should I? I now know 2,000 things that don't work!"
If you look at your experiences the way Edison did, you are much more likely to achieve success.
It is failure only if you think it is
Today, I'm going to try to convince you that regardless of circumstances, there is no such thing as failure. You see, most people have been programmed to be afraid of failure. But I believe that failure, more than anything else, is an attitude.
All of us can remember times when we didn't get the results we wanted - we flunked a test, or put together a business plan that didn't work, or got involved in a romance that turned sour.
But successful people don't think in terms of failure. They think in terms of results they can learn from. If they try something and it doesn't work out, they figure they've had a learning experience, and they take new actions to get new results.
Think about it. What is the one asset, the one benefit you have today that you didn't have in the past? Experience, right? And experience is what you make of it.
Maybe you are afraid of failure, but how do you feel about learning? Fear of failure can stop you before you start. It can stop you from taking the risks you need to take in order to grow. If you redefine failure as learning, as important feedback, there is no longer anything to fear.
Edison tried thousands of different materials before he found the right filament for the electric light bulb. When asked why he didn't quit, he said, "Why should I? I now know 2,000 things that don't work!"
If you look at your experiences the way Edison did, you are much more likely to achieve success.