Failure is Your Friend

I try to read one book a month and the one I am going through right now is called “Failing Forward” by John C. Maxwell. To “fail forward” means to embrace adversity, learn the lesson, and do it again, but better this time. The concept is that if you want to reach your dreams, you must learn to accept failure as a part of the process. The only way to continue moving forward is to try and try again.

I’d like to share a great story that is illustrated in the book. As you read this story, ask yourself how the lesson can be applied to what you are going through right now in your life:

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the “quantity” of the work they produced, all those on the right solely on the “quality.” His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality” however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

What about you? What group are you in right now? Are you churning out piles of work and learning from your mistakes or do the wheels in your head keep turning as you continue to think and analyze, but never take action?

“People naturally tend toward inertia,” John C. Maxwell says, “that’s why self-improvement is such a struggle. But that’s also why adversity lies at the heart of every success. The process of achievement comes through repeated failures and the constant struggle to climb to a higher level.”

It’s not easy to pick ourselves up over and over again, but if we accept that failure is a healthy part of the process and that failing means we’re trying, it’s a win-win situation. It’s an opportunity to gain wisdom, maturity, resilience, and motivation to “get it right this time.” If we never pull the trigger on anything, how will we ever know what’s on the other side of our best effort?

Friends, embrace adversity. Do things even when you’re afraid, and continue to take action by churning out piles of your best work. Who knows, one day you may stumble upon your own masterpiece.

Are you willing to make failure a regular part of your life in order to move forward toward the person you want to be?  Commit by leaving a comment on my Facebook page.