Failure, it's on the road to success

Failure, it's on the road to success

       In this week's reading they focus on how to achieve success.  Failure is a big part of that.  We often don't think of someone who succeeds as someone who has failed; however their failure plays a big part of it.  Relating the readings to everyday life and how this actually fits in was an easy one for me.  Isn't it true that when you answer a question wrong on a test it is the one fact that you always remember, even better than the questions you answered right the first time and forgot them the minute the test was over. The line on page 137 says failure is a better teacher, that is so true. 

   There were many lines in the reading this week that I felt made good sense to me, one example is a line on page 135 in Success Built to Last, It's amazing how even the best ideas don't work if we don't actually put them to use.  This is like all the money spent on weight loss, gym memberships, and gadgets designed to encourage a healthier life style.  You pay the money, you wear your Fitbit so why are the pounds not falling off?  Oh you mean I have to let these things work for me.  I not only need to pay for the gym membership I need to in fact walk through the doors of the gym and use the equipment.  I need to increase my number of steps per day, not just wear this around my wrist.

     Perseverance, the key to continued success.  As Jack La Lanne put it, on page 133, taking a small step - however tiny - each day to gather strength.  That is not only true for self improvement but with any task that needs to be done.  Even writing these blog entries.  If it seems like a huge task to read two chapters, take notes, and write a blog of at least 500 words every week then take it in small steps.  One day read one chapter. Another day read another chapter.  Take notes and write things down as you read them, include the phrase and page number which it appeared on. Highlight the lines, you will find them much easier when you want to refer back to them.  Also another well learned lesson I am starting to do is if you read something and you don't understand it, look it up.  It really does make the story make more sense.    

     As written on page 137, Failure is a better teacher, this too is a true story.  How many people like to fail in front of peers.  It only happens once and you never forget the proper sequence, or the way things should be done.  I always tell people I learn very well after I get it wrong just once.  For the most part this is true at work but maybe not so much at home.  I guess home is the safe place where you can do something wrong over and over and you're still loved.

     Page 142 has a line that reads, We idolize winners and demonize losers after a single game.  How true this statement is.  How high we place the quarterback or the kicker when they make the wining play.  But oh boy, forget about it when they threw the interception that cost the game or kicked the attempted field goal to wide missing what would have been the winning point.  People go on and on about what a terrible play that was as if they could have done a better job.  The lessons written about in this book pertain to so much more than just success at work.  They can be tailored to fit our everyday life, from one day to the next.  Believe me they are defiantly nourishing food for thought.

 Porras, Jerry, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. "Chapter 7 The Tripping Point - Always Make New Mistakes." Success Built to Last, Creating A Life That Matters. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.