Nobody wants to fail, and most everybody knows this. Most want to succeed, but what few understand is this: so called "failure" is an integral part of the process to success.
Ask any champion in any area of life, and this person, if honest, will tell you he or she has also failed probably more than anyone else to get to be the success they've become. Who puts on a pair of tennis shoes and runs a four-minute mile?
I'll tell you who. It is the same person who has put on those shoes countless times and ran an eight-minute mile, a six-minute mile, a five-minute mile many times before reaching that coveted claim to victory of the four-minute mile.
I've heard the typical successful entrepreneur had to fail on average 3.8 times before successfully getting an idea off the ground to success. That's an average a four attempts to open a business before getting it right. And with a business, I would imagine it was a well-planned out venture involving a team and a healthy investment of capital and resources. A business is not something haphazardly thrown together and kick-started.
There was a book called The Outliers. In this book, the author mentions an interesting formula surrounding what we consider to be mega-success. This formula says that to become someone who stands out in any field, whether it be in music, art, business, sports, or whatever area, you will need to put in a minimum of ten thousand hours of practice.
The author cites examples such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and many others. Now ten thousand hours sounds like an awful lot of practice, and it is. However, This formula is also specifically relative to the ultra successful of each talent, skill or ability.
The average Joe (or Jane) may not be looking to become such a stand out success. Perhaps you're only looking to start a dream business that will allow you to do more of what you enjoy from the heart and still be able to pay the bills. You won't need to put in a minimum of ten thousand hours, but you can logically expect to pay a price in time, effort, and, yes, experience (otherwise known as failure).
I'm sure more than one person has thought success would be so easy if it weren't for failure. But hey, it wouldn't be so special either. Think about the privileges that seem to be reserved for the successful. Well to really think about it, don't you think that maybe the successful perhaps deserve to be a little more privileged?
It's not that everyone can't be successful. Rather it's the idea that not everyone is willing to pay the price to become successful. That price is the experience of sometimes more than just a few failures along the way. So, get off your butt, get out there, and start failing! Now! And by the way, enjoy it too. It'll give you something to share with others later on.
I want YOU to succeed!!
Jeffrey Brandt
Author of Close Your Eyes to Find Your Way: A Guide to Discovering Your Higher Self.
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> not everyone is willing to pay the price
ReplyDelete> to become successful.
So true. And part of the problem is that many people don't realize the price. They look at a successful person and say, "I could do that!", as if they could just reach up, flip a switch, and be sitting in the penthouse suite.
They're right, of course. If they got up and made the effort, they could to that. But, as you noted, it takes a little more effort than simply flipping a switch...
Though you do have to flip a switch to get started.