There is a small section in The Cashflow Quadrant™ that really resonates with me, as does the saying “we learn more from our mistakes than our successes”. In reading this small section in the book again I started to think over my life and I realised I could write several books on my lessons – or “learning experiences”.
We learn most about ourselves when we fail. Failing is part of the process of success. Some people do not have many failures simply because they did not take any risks.
I know throughout my adult life I have drawn inspiration and strength from stories like the Kentucky Fried Chicken story. At the age of 65 Colonel Sanders believed there was an opportunity to market his chicken to restaurant owners across the U.S. He had something like 1000 rejections before he persuaded someone to partner with him.
There are countless other stories like this that we can all draw strength and perseverance from.
Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich says “The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” And “Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.”
I have learned over many years to question what the lesson is when something does not go as I planned. I find this a very helpful strategy as the Universe also seems to keep dishing up the same lessons until we get them.
I would love your feedback.
Adam Robinson says
There was a quote about mistakes and failure that I learned from an article I read in the past that really got stuck on to me. It said, “If you haven’t failed, you haven’t lived”. Now, I used to be the person who’s afraid of committing mistakes, to the point that if there is a high probability that I’m not going to succeed, then I most likely will not even try. Pathetic indeed. Until I learned about that line. I simply decided to live. I came to a conclusion that making mistakes and ultimately experiencing failure, are ingredients to success. No successful person has EVER escaped it.
Sue says
Adam you are spot on with your comments here. I agree I do not know a successful person who has not had failures along the way. I love your quote and hey well done on incorporating it into your life. I totally agree with you if we are afraid to make mistakes we will never get anywhere as we will not really try.
I love your attitude.
Sue
Andrew Walker says
Failure, is definitely a better teacher, as long as we can still keep our heads up and standing tall. 🙂
Sue says
I agree with you Andrew. Failure is a great teacher unless we let it “get” us.
Sue